ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING OUT

Hebrews 11

Once I realized that the things I was looking for to make me feel happy and at home were not things here on earth but in the life beyond, it gave me a sense of peace and contentment.  I ceased the continuous effort to fit into the perceived mold of behavior, the constant battles to control my destiny, and the consistent reaching out for love and acceptance from others.  I was able to stop, be still, and simply be me.

I always felt like I was on the outside looking in; but the times that I did get inside it wasn’t at all what I wanted it to be, so I would turn around and leave, returning to my place outside because that was where I was really who I was.  I continually bought into the deception that things were better on the inside.  Most, if not all of the time they weren’t.

God made me in His image; that means I am who I am already from the start.  I don’t have to do anything other than be me.  The tempter told Eve that when she ate the fruit from the forbidden tree she would be like God, able to know what God knew and be wise.  But it was a lie.  She became disobedient and self centered; certainly not what God is like.  The tempter showed her an illusion of who she was, placed her in front of a mirror that reflected her image, not God’s.  It’s the same mirror and illusion humans have continued to look at themselves, generation after generation; creating ourselves in our own image, developing what we perceive as our authentic self. 

Somehow that sounds like a good and worthy goal…”Be all that you can be!”  But it is a lie.  I found that in the end it’s exhausting and it always leads to a dead end.  It was never God’s intention for us.  The tempter did the same thing with Jesus.  But Jesus was well aware of who he was and that what he was being offered was a lie.  He dismissed the tempter with a quick, “Be gone Satan”, and that was that. 

The world is caught up in self image; self development, self enhancement, self esteem, and self help techniques all have Self at the center.  It stands in the way of the image we were created to reflect.  The people God gathers together as His people, His treasured possession, are not found in the Who’s Who of self fulfilled people.  They are the nobody special people who remain nameless to most of the world.  They are the failures by this world’s standards.  They are the people who live their lives on the outside looking in at what the world calls popular and successful.  They are people who know they are nothing without the love, grace, and mercy of God, and in that they are content, fulfilled, and at peace.

This world is not their home.  They are strangers, exiles, and aliens living in the knowledge that they are residents of a better place, a homeland that God Himself has prepared for them, where they will dwell with God forever.

That is their authentic destiny.  These are the folks I want to know as friends and hang out with as we wait together on the outside, with our backs to the windows of this world’s delights and offerings.