I was thinking about the possessions we have and how they help us have a sense of belonging.
Our homes let us belong because they often are where we want to be - the very place where we see ourselves belonging. Our clothes express our belonging to a particular community and our general possessions let us do things others do enabling us to belong to the group of people. There are other possessions which might be described as 'leveraged' devices for belonging.
A mobile phone is more than an object in itself, it is our connection with our world. It is the way we belong in the modern world. It is a means of making communication and receiving information. Try and take away a mobile phone from a teenager and you will see what I mean. No phone and there is no means for belonging for many people.
Another possession with this kind of 'leveraging' are things with significant memories. An old chair is more than a chair. It represents memories and connections with the past - two powerful forces which help us belong. We belong because of the continuity with the past.
The last leveraging I see is in shared possessions. Since they are shared they immediately reflect our belonging together. I have a sense of belonging since we share the possession together
Am I thinking right?
The sense of belonging given by our possessions is very powerful.
I take it that however powerful this sense of belonging is we ought to treat it as nothing compared to belonging to Christ and his people through the power of the gospel of grace (Rom 14:18). Furthermore we need to get our possessions, however valuable we think they are, into perspective:
1Cor. 7:29-31 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
It is hard to see that we belong to the future kingdom since the things of this world are so tangible, but we must! Paul writes,
"Phil 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. "
Sunday, February 28, 2010
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1 comment:
I think this is very true. Sentimental value is often a good thing, but sometime be a bad thing.
As Christians, we often get fooled into thinking too highly of our possessions- and forget to lift our eyes to heaven.
It's interesting that the 1Cor 7 passage you quoted isn't just talking about possessions either... But people, too!
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