The headline from CTPastors online caught my attention.
Why Belonging Is Not Enough
It immediately challenged a thought I’ve repeated through the years: “It’s not enough to believe; you must belong.”
The article summarized Jennifer Breheny Wallace’s book, Mattering. Her thesis is simple: everyone has an innate need to matter—to have a voice, to be valued, and to make a meaningful contribution.
The author speaks of it as “a core human drive” and “an essential pillar of well-being.”
“After basic survival needs are met, the need to matter drives human behavior. You long to feel valued by your community and to add value in return.”
While psychologists may describe this as a basic human need, Scripture has declared the truth from the very beginning: people matter to God.
People matter so much to God that He created them in His image. Men and women are made in His likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). Obviously, this does not refer to physical traits, but spiritual ones. God gave us the power to think, to create, and to choose. We possess an eternal soul. Peter reminds us that through Christ we may become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), reflecting God’s purpose for our spiritual transformation.
People matter so much to God that He endowed each of us with gifts, talents, and abilities to bless others and glorify Him (1 Pet. 4:10-11). Paul reminded the Ephesian Christians, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
People matter to God because we are part of His eternal purpose. Why did Jesus give up heaven’s riches, come to earth, live a humble life among men, and die an excruciating death on the cross? Why? Because people matter to God. The cross is heaven’s greatest declaration of God’s love for humanity.
Mattering to God is a humbling thought, but it’s also an exhilarating one. This realization provides worth, dignity, and value to our personal lives, our families, our communities, our church family, our work, and all of our relationships.
Knowing we matter gives us a reason to get out of bed each morning. It fuels our resolve. It provides purpose and direction. And it motivates us to offer hope, help, and encouragement to others—to show them that they matter, too, and to be an influence for good in their lives.
Dee Bowman beautifully captured this truth in his wonderful book, It’s All About the People:
“Life is about little people. It’s not about the rich and famous here. It’s about simple folks—folks like Ben Diaz (and me) who haven’t made much of a splash in life, nor said anything special, nor done anything worthy of public praise or honor.”
“Life is about people who shine shoes, pick up garbage, wash cars, and patch potholes. Life is about folks who work in offices, who man the drive-through windows at the bank, who sack the groceries, who deliver the mail. Life is about us.”
Indeed, people matter. You matter. I matter.
Regarding Jesus’ teaching, the Bible says, “The common people heard Him gladly” (Mk. 12:37). Have you ever thought about how many of the Bible narratives are about unknown, unheralded, and even obscure people? The woman at the well. The poor widow. The blind beggar. The lame man.
These and so many others mattered enough for God to record their stories for posterity. Their lives remind us that we also matter. It also reminds us of Abraham Lincoln’s oft-repeated observation: “God must love the common people; that’s why He made so many of them.”
The concept of mattering should further fuel our desire to find ways to matter to others—to encourage during difficult times, to offer a hopeful word to the discouraged, to light the way when life looks dark and dim, to be thoughtful, kind, and considerate, and to share the most precious commodity we possess—our time.
So don’t merely believe. Don’t merely belong. Matter.
Make a difference. Find someone to help. Encourage someone. Leave everyone a little better than you found them.
When we do, we reflect the heart of the God who first showed us that we matter.
—Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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