Have you ever felt like an outcast? It is not a great feeling. I know what it feels like to be a stranger, an alien, someone who doesn’t belong. These are feelings I have become all to familiar with my last two weeks in Panama. To the people of Panama, I am an outsider. I look different, act different, and to them I am a stranger in a foreign land. Let me clarify, I in no way have been treated in a negative way. On the contrary, people have been friendly, helpful, and kind. However, despite Panamanian hospitality, people generally know by my confused looks of bewilderment and blank stares when being spoken to, that I am not home. I am getting accustomed to the stares of locals as I walk down the street. The reality is, I don’t belong.
The other day I opened Ephesians 2. As I read through the chapter I came to verse 19 and read,
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”.
The reality is that spiritually speaking, I was a foreigner. I did not belong. I was an outcast. I could not have access to our Heavenly Father. That was until Christ came and reconciled me to him and to his Kingdom. He made me a citizen. Because of Christ and his sacrifice I am no longer a complete foreigner, without rights and privileges. I am now a citizen of a kingdom that knows no end. No more confused looks, no more feelings of not belonging. Wherever I am, I am home because God is with me and I have been invited to be a citizen of Heaven.
