Out of Step...

I frequently feel out of place. I am a woman in a room full of men, or a single in a room full of couples. I am fat and old in a world full of young and beautiful people. I am under dressed. I am a city girl in the county. I feel awkward and inadequate in a world of graceful, competent people.

There are a million little ways I don’t fit in.

It leaves me feeling uneasy. I am shy. I am an introvert. I’m a bit of a hermit. It runs in the family. I know that much of it is in my head, and before you all rush to reassure me that you all feel that way too, and that I’m really OK, let me say that I think that its healthy. This unease reminds me that I am different, that I live by a different set of values, and that I’m not supposed to fit in.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

I feel different because I am different. I am a stranger, an alien in a strange place. I am a foreigner, with an allegiance to a King not of this world. My values and worldview are different, because they are not from here.

The prince of this world would have us believe that power is important, that money equals power, and that the acquisition of money is all important. He would have me value people according to what they can do for me, to love things and use people, and to always need more. He tells me that whatever I do is OK as long as it feels good and I don’t get caught. He doesn’t care about me; the fact that those who buy into his values are dying means nothing to him.

The fact that I feel out of step with this world is a good thing. I am not subject to the prince of this world, but am subject to the King of Kings. This King loves me, and so has given me ways of living that are good for me, even when I don’t understand them or would rather indulge in more instant pleasures. All he asks is obedience. All he wants is that I would love him. He wants a relationship with me, something real.

So, when I feel out of place, when I feel like I don’t fit in, I can remember where I DO fit in.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household. Ephesians 2:19

You and I are out of step with this world because we are in step with the Spirit, and with each other. We are part of a kingdom of love, in relationship with God and with each other, new creations who live values that are noble and righteous and real. And when all that the prince of this world values has passed away like a morning mist, we will live on into an eternity of love and peace.

It’s good to be different.