Ever get that feeling that you just don’t belong somewhere? Being a country boy, I felt that way when I moved into my cookie-cutter suburban home. Sometimes I get that feeling around extremely wealthy people….not that there is anything wrong with being wealthy or extremely wealthy. I just feel uncomfortable around them. But now I have that feeling on a much larger scale. Sometimes I feel like that I don’t belong in this world. No, I’m not suicidal. Sometimes I simply feel like a foreigner… or a “fer-ner” as my grandmother sometimes said.
A few years ago, I travelled to Bolivia on a mission trip. It was a great experience, but I have never felt more out of place. The language was different. The customs were different. The food was different. I truly felt like a foreigner. Thank God for my church group. Imagine how alone I would’ve felt if they hadn’t been with me.
Yesterday, I travelled to Wal-mart. Now I know that Wally World can sometimes be a lesson in anthropology all in itself, but it’s still nothing like Bolivia. I shop at Wal-mart at least once per week, and yesterday I felt like a total foreigner.
I think that I feel that way because as I get closer to God, I can’t understand the world’s language as well. The world has this weird, secular, Godless culture. Since I was at Wal-mart, let’s take advertising, for example. Think of almost anything that’s for sale. It could be sporting goods, pharmaceuticals, or clothing. All of the products have beautiful or famous spokespersons. You just don’t usually see ugly people in advertisements. And although I’ve never really considered it before now, the beautiful spokesperson has absolutely no connection to the product. There’s only one reason that the beautiful spokesperson is there: to make you think that you will look like him/her when you buy the product. Don’t get me wrong. God loves beauty, too, but he doesn’t care if you have the body of Victoria’s Secret model or the physique of an NFL linebacker. He is concerned more with spiritual beauty.
So, I guess this question begs to be answered: What do I do when I feel like a foreigner? I go to church or hang out with other Christians, just as I did in Bolivia. It helps to share struggles with people who are in similar positions. Following Jesus was never meant to be done alone. No one likes to be lonely. If we are lonely, we will seek companionship somewhere. The world is a tricky place. Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul talked about Demas and said, “for Demas, because he love this world, has deserted me…”. Don’t fall in love with the world. Find other believers to lean on. We may feel a bit lonely from time to time, but we know that our ultimate reward does not lie in this world.