“Where are you from?”

Having lived in the US for 8 years now. I have grown accustomed to this question. People hear my accent and their interest is piqued. They want to know my story — what brought me here, what life is like where I’m from. It can be uncomfortable, embarrassing even, to be so regularly picked out from the crowd, and in spite of my best efforts, to still be so obviously different.

And yet as Christians, isn’t this exactly the kind of life God has called us to live?

The truth is, we were never supposed to be just like everyone else. To ‘fit in’ with the crowd. Instead, as citizens and ambassadors of heaven, we were called to be different. Heavenly sojourners in a broken world. On a rescue mission for Jesus.

It can be a daily battle to live in tension with a secular world. To navigate a culture so very different from our own. A world that doesn’t know Jesus, and doesn’t want to. That doesn’t share His laws, His priorities, His heart. And so we have to stand out and stand our ground. Fighting the lies of the world with His truth. Standing firm in the knowledge of who He is, and who we are in Him. No matter what it might take. Despised, ostracized, mocked, and persecuted, Jesus knew the cost of being an outsider too. He lived it. And so do we.