I am safe here. I’m not longer homeless.” – Andrew Harwell
A sense of belonging is vital to health. We were designed for connection. The gospel offers us belonging—a home in Christ. Living a gospel centric life means that as Christ has welcomed us we must welcome one another. Unfortunately, because we are human, we will not always experience that reality within our own relationships, communities, or even our church communities.
Letter to a friend is about recognizing when to move on. It’s not about saying goodbye or walking away from “toxic” relationships but about saying goodbye to our need for the acceptance, affirmation and sense of belonging we wish those relationships could provide.
Laying aside the weight of dependence on others for our emotional or spiritual vitality / validity is very freeing. We can continue to maintain a hospitable, grace filled attitude toward friends, family, and even our church family, while saying, “I will not let your attitude toward me impact my perspective of who I am in Christ.”
I intentionally penned the lyric, “You’re welcome in my life but I’m not the same” because I do not believe that Jesus wants us to close our hearts to others, even if they have caused us pain. Moving on doesn’t always mean moving away from—it just means choosing to live in Grace, God’s influence in our lives, instead of constantly leaning on or looking to others.
Grace enables us to love freely even when we do not feel that love is reciprocated.
“We love because he first loved us.”
Peace friends. You belong, and you are worthy because he has made you worthy.
