When You Feel Like You Don’t Belong
Have you ever walked into a group and felt like you don’t belong? We all have at some point, right? Or am I alone in this? A quick trip down memory lane to the school lunchroom and that awful feeling of not knowing where to sit comes to mind. We don’t all get a place at the “in” table. There are so many cliques and groups that finding our own place felt — feels — overwhelming.
There will always be a place inside of us jockeying for position. It isn’t a middle school lunchroom thing. You and I want to be somebody, to be noted, to be known. God put that desire inside of you, but He also laid out a road map for how we define and find that greatness. When we veer off His course, things quickly go off the rails.
Jesus told a parable of a wedding banquet and its guests (Luke 14:7-10). He warned those who listened to not take the most distinguished seat because when the host arrives he may ask you to move to give it to someone more distinguished. What He was doing was changing the rules.
When Jesus gave these instructions for wedding banquet etiquette, He was speaking to a crowd who fought constantly for a place at the table. Cursus Honorum was a phrase well known to Jesus’ contemporaries that defined their lives; it meant a race for honors. See, status determined everything in their world. It determined how you lived, how you were punished and how you died. It even determined what gods you were permitted to worship. When it came to parties, people invited their guests based on how they would make them look. No one wanted the last seat at the table, so everyone’s “plus-one” was someone who ranked lower than they did. Jesus is flipping that way of thinking on its head and saying, “No! You take the least honorable seat and give the others honor.”
Don’t force belonging; know that you already do. There is a place for you at God’s table.
Ephesians 2:6 (MSG) says, “Then he [God] picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” Even though sinful and selfish choices have disqualified us from a place of honor in heaven, God in His mercy picked us up and set us down, giving us a seat at the table, in the presence of Jesus. Friend, you belong.
Let me be clearer. You are loved and cherished by God. You belong in His family and you belong in ours. There is a seat for you!
At Centerpoint, we are breaking down every barrier that keeps people from the love of God. We don’t shy away from the hard questions. No matter where you are in your faith journey, you are welcome to join us!