Ever felt like you don't belong everywhere you go? Ever felt like everyone else seems to fit in except you? Ever felt like you're not enough like the rest of them? Like you stand out as the odd one out in a packed room? Like they all got some message to be a certain type of thing but it must have missed you? Yeah, you have haven't you. Don't lose heart. Some of the greatest heroes of the bible were outcasts. Noah - used greatly by God to rebuild the human race - was called a madman and an outcast of society. Moses - an incredible leader who was used by God to save God's people - was an outcast shepherd for 40 years. Rahab the prostitute - a humble girl with a heart for God was used to bring down the mighty walls of Jericho - an outcast. Elijah - a truly amazing prophet of God used powerfully to open the eyes of his people to their God - was an outcast, an exile, a mountain man.
Ruth - the great grandmother to King David was a Moabite girl surrounded by death in her family and an outcast in a foreign land. King David - one of the greatest Kings of mankind that lived - was hunted and unfairly blamed despite only doing right. Esther - a beautiful Jewish princess in a foreign land with danger and betrayal on every side - was an outcast. John the baptist - the forerunner for the Messiah and called 'greatest born among women' by Jesus Christ - was an outcast and a wild man living in the wilderness. Mary and Joseph were outcasts in a foreign land forced to flee to Egypt to protect the life of their child - the Christ. And finally, Jesus Christ "despised and rejected of men" - the outcast of all outcasts - unfairly murdered by His own creation when all He brought was love and truth to this world.
I believe there's a reason you don't belong. You were made for so much more than to just be another cookie cutter pop-out clone of the others. You were made to stand out. Stop trying to be like them, instead be like Jesus. He walks with the outcasts, He calls them and welcomes them to Him. Don't listen to the voices that pull you down, instead listen to Jesus and His voice that leads and builds. He says "I will NEVER leave you or abandon you". Check your bible - Jesus didn't hang out with the religious types, the rich or the popular - in truth it was them that killed Him.
True heroes and leaders don't care for the opinions and public acceptance of others - instead they care for the plight of others even at their own expense. God loves you and knows you, He has great plans for you. I too am an outcast, I know just how it feels to be scorned and hated by many. I spent most of my life as a chameleon trying to shape shift into acceptable forms for those around me. Yet all it did was erode my identity and pierce my soul. Thanks to Jesus, I now know for a certainty that I am loved by Him - for who I am. I know my identity - I belong to Jesus. I pray today that you will know that love too. In heaven I plan to party in the room with the outcasts and I warn you if I've got anything to do with it - it's going to be packed and its going to be LOUD! God loves you.
[ James 2:5 - Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? ]
Ruth - the great grandmother to King David was a Moabite girl surrounded by death in her family and an outcast in a foreign land. King David - one of the greatest Kings of mankind that lived - was hunted and unfairly blamed despite only doing right. Esther - a beautiful Jewish princess in a foreign land with danger and betrayal on every side - was an outcast. John the baptist - the forerunner for the Messiah and called 'greatest born among women' by Jesus Christ - was an outcast and a wild man living in the wilderness. Mary and Joseph were outcasts in a foreign land forced to flee to Egypt to protect the life of their child - the Christ. And finally, Jesus Christ "despised and rejected of men" - the outcast of all outcasts - unfairly murdered by His own creation when all He brought was love and truth to this world.
I believe there's a reason you don't belong. You were made for so much more than to just be another cookie cutter pop-out clone of the others. You were made to stand out. Stop trying to be like them, instead be like Jesus. He walks with the outcasts, He calls them and welcomes them to Him. Don't listen to the voices that pull you down, instead listen to Jesus and His voice that leads and builds. He says "I will NEVER leave you or abandon you". Check your bible - Jesus didn't hang out with the religious types, the rich or the popular - in truth it was them that killed Him.
True heroes and leaders don't care for the opinions and public acceptance of others - instead they care for the plight of others even at their own expense. God loves you and knows you, He has great plans for you. I too am an outcast, I know just how it feels to be scorned and hated by many. I spent most of my life as a chameleon trying to shape shift into acceptable forms for those around me. Yet all it did was erode my identity and pierce my soul. Thanks to Jesus, I now know for a certainty that I am loved by Him - for who I am. I know my identity - I belong to Jesus. I pray today that you will know that love too. In heaven I plan to party in the room with the outcasts and I warn you if I've got anything to do with it - it's going to be packed and its going to be LOUD! God loves you.
[ James 2:5 - Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? ]
