Belong

Today, Paul offers an important reminder of a forgotten aspect of our journey.

Ephesians 6

1 Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.

2 “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise:

3 If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.

6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.

7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Belong. Growing up, I am sure you heard the answer ... “Because I said so!” ... to a lot of your questions. I appreciate the fact that Paul goes beyond “Because” in his instruction and adds a reason ... “you belong to the Lord”. I think we lose sight of that on our journey as Jesus followers. We never forget the Savior or forgiveness side of being a Jesus follower; but we have selective memory (as my mom used to say), when it comes to the Lord or leader side. I pray you never forget that you belong to Jesus because there are a lot of dark places in this world that can lead to loneliness; but even more so, I pray you never forget that you belong to Jesus because there are a lot of temptations that lead to those dark places.