Belonging

Loneliness is a painful and global phenomenon. According to research: - 52% of Americans report feeling lonely - 58% of Americans reported feeling like no one knows them well - 55% of London residents say they feel lonely - In Australia, 62% of young adults report being lonely

When we're disconnected from meaningful relationships, we often feel sad and even empty. We can even "feel it in our bones" as the social isolation affects our bodies.

I don't like feeling lonely. I'm guessing you don't either. Good news: God cares about this too!

From the very start of the Bible, we see God notices this pain. In Genesis 2:18, "Then the LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone.'"

The Psalmist declares: "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families."

This theme comes to a climax when Jesus suffers on the cross. Mark reports that he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" The Triune God enacted a marvelous and unexpected plan, as a perfect God, to suffer with us in the painful experience of being abandoned.

**And that is God's answer to loneliness: God himself!**

He didn't offer to hang out with us on Sundays at church. No, he united us to himself, that we might have everlasting joy in his presence, now and forever. We are not spiritual orphans but beloved children of our heavenly Father. The invitation is to live our lives in God's presence.

Second, when God united us to Christ, he united us to one another. Paul teaches in Galatians 3:28, "There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus." All Christians are united to one another and to God.

Because we are "in Christ," we are spiritually connected to Jesus. We are new creations, experiencing redemption, forgiveness, and the faithful presence of the Holy Spirit.