“You’re like me now,” our oldest daughter shouted with glee. She was 8 years old when my husband and I received letters informing us of our naturalization as Irish citizens. All of our children were born in Ireland and received Irish citizenship by birth, so she was delighted we were all the same now. I hadn’t realized how important this was for her, this sense of being the same and belonging to the same place. Up to that time, we were different, set apart by this distinction. In her young mind, holding similar passports made us the same and bound us together. When I think back on this memory, I recognize how our daughter’s excitement stemmed from our human nature to belong, to be united with others by a common bond. Our relational triune God created us to image that same relational unity.

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26–29)

Can you see the picture of belonging in these verses from Galatians? As followers of Jesus, holding similar faith makes us the same and binds us together. Just as Irish citizenship united our family in our daughter’s mind, so does our faith in Christ unite us with all believers. Our nationality, social status, and gender are clothed over with the righteousness of Christ. The distinctions that once set us apart fade away in the covering of our faith. Our union with Christ makes us all children of God and heirs to God’s promise. We belong to Christ and to the family of God.

If your global life ever leaves you feeling different, set apart, or like an outsider, then please cling to these truths and hear me when I say, “You’re like me!”