If you’re like me, sometimes you forget who you belong to.
If you’re like me, you also sometimes forget who you are.
Thank goodness, we belong to Jesus, and our identity can be found fully in Him.
In Luke 7, we see that a mother was having a challenging time remembering just who she and her son belonged to. Her son, whose age is not specified, had recently died. Read verses 11 through 17 of Luke 7 with me.
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
I’m not a mother yet, but I cannot imagine the utter grief that would accompany a loss of this magnitude. We can imagine that this mother was most certainly heartbroken, likely confused, and perhaps, understandably frustrated at God for the way His plan for her son’s life had unfolded. In the face of grief, it is so common to feel all of these things… and we can see that this mother in Luke 7 had forgotten Who her son’s life belonged to.
As Jesus approached this mother, He saw her in her heartbreak, in her confusion, and in her frustration. That is the first thing that touches my heart as I read this passage. Today, be reminded that the Lord sees you and knows you. He knows your circumstances, and He knows the current state of your heart.
But Jesus didn’t just stop at seeing her heartbreak, confusion, and frustration. He entered into that heartbreak, confusion, and frustration with her, gently encouraging her to not cry anymore. While it might seem that such encouragement wouldn’t make sense to a grieving mother, Jesus knew what He was about to do. That’s the second thing I love about these verses: Jesus is present in whatever we are going through. Even if what He puts on our hearts in those seasons doesn’t make sense, He knows His plan and He knows the final outcome, no matter how big or how small the situation.
As we can see in the final verses of this passage, Jesus miraculously healed this mother’s son and brought him back to life. After He did this and after the son sat up and began to speak again, Jesus did something that stands out to me most of all in this part of Scripture: He gave the son back to his mother.
The son, and his life, ultimately belonged to God. God had simply given him, entrusted him, to this mother for his time here on earth. Yet Jesus saw fit to give the son back into his mother’s care again.
How comforting that we, like this son, belong to Jesus. Our lives are truly in His hands alone. He has the power to give us other people in this life to love and to care for and to serve, but they don’t belong to us. They belong to Him.
You belong to Jesus. That is where your identity is to be found. Be encouraged in this truth today.