Misfits

People will often say things like “I just don’t seem to fit in.” Or, “I don’t feel like I belong here.” Or maybe “I just have not yet found myself.” They feel like misfits; people who feel mis-matched with this world. Even the most educated, successful and wealthy will utter the same statement at one time or another. They echo the same sentiment, and there is a certain truth that touches us all.

Prior to sin in humanity, Adam and Eve were a perfect fit. “Perfect” is a difficult thing to relate to for any of us. Sin has made us much less than what was intended in God’s original design. We are all less than perfect and somehow do not seem to fit. Sin has made us all “misfits.”

We no longer fit in with God’s holiness. Even our understanding is “darkened, being alienated from the life of God.” (Ephesians 4:18) There is now in humanity a sense of alienation and the overarching feeling of strangeness that accompanies it. It is inescapable.

Human kind would be doomed to remain a misfit if it had not been for the cross of Jesus Christ. In Christ, everything finds its proper place. The book of Ephesians tells us that believers in Christ are “no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19) Through the cross, God grants a unique place; a “citizenship” that places every believer within the “household of God.”

“Citizens.” The word automatically conjours up visions of home and some familiar …comfortable things we know and trust. It is the place where we belong. And so it is with those who have believed on and know Christ. There is no place like home.

The cross once again gives every person the perfect place to belong. It is a change in status. Not a status that makes one person better or more valuable than another. It is a citizenship. A permanent membership through which a person enters the legal borders of unique privileges, rites and even benefits.

When we think of God, we naturally think of heaven. We think that to be a member of His “household” means that the benefits of this new citizenship will only have effect once a person reaches eternity; the great by-and-by. But it is not so in God’s household. Membership privileges start NOW as every believer is included within His church. And there is room for everybody! It is God’s plan for every member to find their place in His church. Not only to grow in thier understanding of God, but to know one another. People, and especially the people of God belong together. “We, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:5) Believers belong to God and they also belong to each other.

Still, there is one final hurdle. The citizenship of the house of God cannot be shared with any other citizenship. In fact, a person cannot carry “dual citizenship.” You either belong to God or you do not belong to Him. and God warns His household about this world; their current residence. He says things like “the sons of this world are shrewd” and “the cares of this world …choke.” Jesus even stated “I am not of this world.” (John 8:23) And so it is that while we find our place with Christ that even believers once again find themselves as a “misfit” in this world.

All of us, believers and unbelievers are all misfits here.

The cross is the only open door through which humanity finds fulfilment. Dignity and value are restored to every person. there are no races, no social classes, no age or physical descrimination, no income restrictions, etc. Every person is a person for whom God died and suffered. All people are equally important. All have the same value, and it cannot be measured.

You are loved.

You cease to be a misfit when you forfeit your sin. Give up and tell God that you have sinned against people and against Him. Surrender to Jesus and allow Him to forgive you of it all. He has promised that He will do it. All sin will be removed and you will be given a new citizenship. Yes, you. There is a place where you belong. And you will fit in just fine!