When You Feel Like You Don't Belong
Someone takes the Lord’s name in vain during a meeting at work and no one bats an eye.
Another family looks on in judgment when they see our family quietly bow our heads in prayer before our meal at a restaurant.
A coworker proudly declares that she’ll never force religion on her child and everyone else nods in fervent agreement.
We’ve all had these moments, they’re the moments when we’re made instantly aware that we’re the odd man out.
I’ll admit, I often look back on these moments with regret. There have been times when I’ve tackled situations such as these head on and shared my point of view with eloquence. But more often that not I’ve found myself clamming up because I don’t know what to say or in all honesty, I’m scared to say what is in my heart.
It’s so much easier to share your beliefs when you know they will be accepted and respected by the people around you. That’s why I love and cherish my friends who follow Christ, my family who encourages me in my walk with God and my fellow church members who worship with me.
The problem is, I’m not surrounded by those people every day. Some of the people I find myself surrounded by think the very idea of God is ridiculous. In a world where people trust themselves to be their own moral compass and find no need for a savior, I’m the odd man out.
I don’t belong.
I don’t fit in with people who praise the wisdom of man.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I don’t fit in with people who feel no guilt over sin.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The truth is, I will never belong in this world because I belong to the one who has conquered the world. I belong to Jesus. I can only pray that He will give me the courage to separate myself from the sin of the world and to call it out when it’s staring me in the face.
When the latest gossip makes its way to me and paints an unflattering picture of one of my coworkers. When a “little white lie” seems like a better option than simply telling the truth. When jealously and insecurity creep in as I scroll through Instagram or Facebook.
I want to be the one who doesn’t belong, who doesn’t do as the world does.
I want to belong only to Jesus.
“Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
