You Don’t Have to Fit In.

What does ‘fitting in’ mean? Being accepted by certain groups? Being recognized with a title? Maybe a high social status? Being acknowledged because of achievements or by your financial accounts?

Can I be bold and ask: Who really cares? Sit back and think of all the times you’ve tried to change who you are to fit in with someone else because of how you perceived them. This is dangerous. Do you actually know yourself? We were created to be us, not someone else. Of course we flock to others who have the same likes and hobbies, but what if we went outside our comfort zones and looked at others that may not have the same interests as we do? Jesus didn’t hang out with the people of high status, the ones who looked as though they had it all together. He called the broken. The rejected. The ones that no one liked. And He saw in them what no one else did, a purpose. He loved them despite what the world thought. He questioned the ones who everyone looked to. He stirred people up. He didn’t fit in. Why? He’s the greatest man to ever walk on this earth- how could anyone not want to follow Him!? The answer is actually simple: He was not of the world. He exposed the evil and gave truth. He was rejected by those who didn’t want to let go of the way of the world and embrace His teachings. The truth. The truth scares people who can’t see or don’t want to see it. If they’re exposed, their image may be compromised. The image they worked so hard on to give people an impression of what they really aren’t. But God sees you behind your mask.

I struggled with not fitting in as far back as I can remember. I often felt invisible or the exact opposite, as though I had a target on me where others would feel compelled to hurt me. It wasn’t until I met Jesus that this would make sense. When your eyes are opened to the world, and how the way of the world really is, you realize that you don’t want to fit in. Jesus is the only way to Heaven, not the world. Our time here isn’t going to be weighed by whether the world loved us, rather, the exact opposite. If you also struggle with the feeling of not fitting in, remember that Our Lord and Savior didn’t fit in either. And that was all predestined. You were predestined. You have a purpose. You are important. You were chosen. Ask God to reveal this to you and He will fill your heart with everything that no one and no thing can but Him. That empty feeling in your heart is reserved for Him and Him alone. That’s why nothing in the world makes you feel fulfilled. It isn’t meant to. Jesus will accept you.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9