几乎每一个人都希望归属某些比自己更伟大和崇高的人或物。在音乐会中、运动场上，或参与社群活动时，我们都经历到那份归属感。在那些时刻，我们能够感受到自己好像是我们所喜爱的音乐小组的成员，或是我们所喜爱的体育队伍的一位队员。当我们与邻居和朋友分享故事时，我们感受到彼此之间的联系，我们感到被看见，有人聆听我们，感到被接纳，甚至感到被爱。
神也希望我们对祂有同样的渴望，就是我们感受到自己是属于祂的。神非常希望我们感受到我们与祂的联系，并且因祂看见、听到、接纳我们而感到心满意足。然而，归属于神与其他归属感不同，归属于神--是以神对我们无条件的爱和眷顾为首的。当我们欣然接受神对我们如此伟大和宽宏的爱，且接纳我们进入祂的大家庭，宣告我们是属于祂，以满足我们对归属感极大的渴求时，我们便感受到神这份大爱了。身为神永恒之家的一份子，我们的天父看顾我们、聆听我们、接纳我们，并以无条件的爱来爱我们。
父神啊，感谢祢接纳我们进入祢的大家庭，又满足我们归属于比我们更伟大的人或物的渴求。求祢帮助我们今天以同样的爱心去爱人，好叫他们也能认识祢。奉耶稣之名祈求，阿们。
罗马书 8:14-17
14因为凡被神的灵引导的，都是神的儿子。
15你们所受的不是奴仆的心，仍旧害怕；所受的乃是儿子的心，因此我们呼叫：“阿爸！父！”
16圣灵与我们的心同证我们是神的儿女。
17既是儿女，便是后嗣，就是神的后嗣，和基督同做后嗣。如果我们和他一同受苦，也必和他一同得荣耀。
"The Spirit you received . . . brought about your adoption. . . . And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" - Romans 8:15
Belonging to something bigger or greater than ourselves is something that nearly everyone wants. We experience moments of belonging at concerts, or sporting events, or community gatherings. In those moments we can feel like a member of our favorite musical group or like a player for our favorite sports team. We feel connected as we share stories with our neighbors and friends. We feel seen. We feel heard. We feel accepted. We may even feel loved.
God has a similar desire for us—he wants us to feel that we belong to him. God longs for us to feel connected to him, to be satisfied in knowing that he sees, hears, and accepts us. The difference, though, in belonging to God begins with his unconditional love and care for us. That kind of love happens when we accept and embrace that God’s love for us is so great and grand that he wants to satisfy our greatest desire of belonging by adopting us into his family and calling us his own. As a part of God’s eternal family, we are seen, we are heard, we are accepted, and we are loved by the unconditional love of our heavenly Father.
Father God, thank you for adopting me into your family, and for satisfying my desire to belong to something greater. Help me today to show that same kind of love to others so that they may know you also. For Jesus' sake, Amen.
诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳
