“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24 

            When travelling, we are advised to ‘ensure we have our luggage and personal belongings with us’, especially when about to alight from a train at the station we are arriving at. The luggage tends to be the weighty things of our journey – fresh clothes, a pile of books, hairdryer and the other essentials of travelling – but what are our ‘personal belongings’?

            Paul writes in this weighty letter to the Church in Galatia of being people who ‘belong to Christ Jesus’. Here, there is a sense of ownership and being of greater value than the ‘luggage’ that accompanies us on our way. There is great value we set on the things we keep in our purse or handbag- some actual expense and some sentimental, but all would be painful to lose. We have tamed these belongings, they are familiar and precious to us. They are necessary to the ease of our life and aid us in functioning in the world.

The cost of belonging

            I look back to the cost involved in ‘belonging to Christ Jesus’ and recognise that the value set on us belonging to Him is his own crucifixion – his own life. I’m trying to reconcile this with the estimated insurance cost of replacing the contents of the belongings of my handbag, prepared for travel and regrettably and horrifyingly left on a station bench a few weeks ago… 

            There’s my wallet and cards, iPhone and AirPods, lipstick, Mentoes, metal water bottle, house key, did I mention that my lipstick is my Good Lipstick? There’s my train ticket, some cash, a pen and some Tic Tacs… oh and my Kindle. I just didn’t check to make sure it was with me. I left all my personal belongings on the station bench! When I realised, a creeping horror came over me because I couldn’t get in touch with anyone, or go anywhere. The things of value were of importance to my day and my intentions for the day.

Price paid

            Jesus has paid for us with the most generous and inestimable currency. Meeting the price tag that is too high for any one else to achieve. The insurance for my handbag’s contents would have been somewhat eye-watering, but nothing like the cost that Jesus paid. Jesus has done all he can to ensure that, as we belong to Him we remain close to Him at all times. We are more important than the luggage, we are His. 

            We belong to Jesus and belong with Jesus. 

            Our peace and function is found in maintaining the close proximity to Jesus of a fiercely worn handbag or purse. To belong is personal and intimate. We may have chosen and selected the things we carry as our personal belongings. We have invested in them and trust in their presence to enable our journey. When we start to look at ourselves as being the ‘personal belonging’ of Jesus we are reminded of the weight of that merciful and gracious cost and the value he places in us. He slings us across his chest and we are protected by the warmth of his body. We are cradled in his hands and checked on to ensure we are with him. Our shape is moulded by his warmth and by the way we are carried, the rough edges are smoothed and we are placed just where he needs us to be.

Safely home

 I needed my handbag to be returned. I prayed and my lovely husband called his parents to make search in the area for it. We tracked my iPhone as the bag had been lifted and moved from where I’d lost it. It came to settle behind a wall at the police station in the nearby town and was recovered and collected by my father in law, then couriered to me by my sister in law. A few days later and my belongings were restored. Slightly diminished as the cash was gone – but I still felt such relief for its return. It belongs to me and is where it should be.

            There are so many things that could be said about being returned to Jesus. We have parables he told about Lost Coins and Lost Sheep. There are things to experience in the restorative place of being with Jesus. As I gather my own personal and valuable belongings together for a journey and as I hold them to my body in my handbag, I know that I too am held and valued as one who belongs to Jesus. Whatever lengths I go to in retrieving my belongings, he has gone further still for those who belong to Him.