Have you ever walked into a room full of people and felt like you didn’t belong? It’s one of the worst feelings of insecurity ever! Maybe you’re not dressed right because it feels like they’re all dressed up in formal wear and you’re dressed down in blue jeans, a casual shirt, and a ball cap. It’s possible you feel unqualified to be around these people because they’re better than you. The look on their faces is not a warm, loving and welcoming expression; rather, they’re giving you that look – you know that look – the one that disgustingly says, “What are YOU doing here!?”
I vividly remember my 2010 September trip to Cambodia when I traveled by myself. It’s a 23-hour flight from Dallas to Phnom Penh, which includes a brief layover in Seoul, South Korea. (It’s a long flight, especially when you’re all alone.) On the flight from DFW to Seoul neither the Vietnamese man on my right or the Korean woman across the aisle from me spoke English. On the plane from South Korea to Phnom Penh I was one of just a couple of Americans. The rest of the plane was rightly filled with Cambodians and South Korean’s.
But I was not as alone as one might think. I prayed for several days before taking off that the Lord would be with me. Yep! Jesus and I were going on a mission trip together. I may not belong with a lot of people but I belong with Jesus – even though I am way less qualified to be with Him than with other sinners like me.
At the end of the day we confess to God that we are not worthy to be in a relationship with Him; however, He clothes us in Christ and makes us worthy so that we can humbly and joyfully say, “Jesus, we belong with You.”. In fact, we never need to have that insecure and uncomfortable feeling around Jesus. In the gospels there’s never one person who is afraid to approach Jesus. No matter what sin they’ve committed or what their background is – no one was afraid to approach Jesus.
Read Luke 18:35-43. Then listen to the song Belong with You by Remedy Drive. Then go through this day with Jesus – after all, you belong with Him.