It seems that in today’s messaging there is a focus for people to have their identity tied to a group of people or a place they feel is a place of belonging. Many people however, will find that there is no room for them, or they just don’t fit with this certain group, or they just know this is not where I belong. This could lead people down a road of despair, loneliness, and questioning what really is my identity, the all-important question “Who am I?”
One of my favorite sections of the Bible gives us that identity, it gives us the clear direction to the place we belong. Jesus even says to his disciples “I have prepared this place for you.” In the book of John Chapter 14, Jesus is with his disciples enjoying the Last Supper. The disciples had been with Jesus for three years and soon he would be gone. The identity of the disciples and their comfort was having Jesus with them, and Jesus knew that would soon change. Jesus wanted to give them comfort and to show them who they will always belong to. He says in verses 2-3 “ In my Father’s house are many rooms; it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.”
What a comfort we have to know that Jesus has prepared a place specifically for us. That room is in a place that you and I belong. Jesus promises to come back and take us to be with him and dwell with us. I like the translation that uses the picture of a mansion. Jesus has prepared a mansion for us. I like that picture because what he has prepared for us is so much better than what we have here on earth. It is beyond what we could even fathom to have here on earth! That is where we belong, that is our identity, that is the community that will always have room for us. How do we get to that place? Jesus continues in verse 6 “I am the way and the truth and the life.” That is where we find our identity and our place of belonging, we find it in Jesus.
For all of those young people in our community who are looking for that identity, we have it hear in the hallways of MLHS. We have the message of the saving faith through Jesus. We have a place for kids to feel a belonging and a place to call home! What a wonderful blessing to center our education around the gospel message of Jesus. Who are you: a redeemed child of God and there is room for you here!