Are you on the outside looking in?
It is 4:51 am, and I am suddenly awake, wide-awake. I reach for my Parallel New Testament. It is a breakdown of the eight most popular biblical translations that are side by side. It has KJV,NIV,ESV,HCSB,TNIV,NLT,NCV, and the Message. I have been reading Romans all week, and I found it very hard to understand, so from time to time, I grabbed my Parallel to try and discern and learn. For over a year now I have struggled with many issues about church in itself. Not with God, not with my pastor. I have felt like I was on the outside looking in, never fully accepted. I have felt rejection, pain, hurt, loneliness, questioning, despair, and Love. How could I feel love from such harsh emotions? Yet indeed I have grown in this last year to love my brothers and sisters more.
Out of every single transition, of hurt, pain, rejection, despair and questioning, I reached deeper and found immense love toward my brothers and sisters. It only came to me this morning, that I was being taught something, which I will carry with me the rest of my life, and I hope with God’s blessing I share it equally with you.
In Romans, the Jews rejected the Messiah. In their act of rebellion, many were cast out but a remnant few were saved and stayed rooted to the olive tree. This act of rebellion opened the door for the gentiles, to be saved and to be grafted to the root of the olive tree.
Are the Jews finished? No. When they left, the door was still open. God’s chosen ones were the ones that let God pursue his interest in them. When the Jews chose to choose their own self-interest, they failed. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this in Romans 10 and 11. Would the Jews be cut off, are they finished? The answer is an infinite “NO”. When the Jews started their rebellion, and rejected the Messiah, and ran, leaving the door wide open, praise God it did not shut, for it ushered in the gentiles and their chance at salvation. Understand Israel is still the chosen children of God. It is by God’s Grace that we can be saved. Word of Faith is what welcomes God, so he can go to work and set things right for us. When we say Jesus is Master or Jesus is Lord, we are simply calling out to God, trusting him to do a work in us. Scripture says we will not regret nor be ashamed. When you call out to God, you are not doing anything, you are simply trusting God.
The door is still wide open for the gentile, which leaves the door open for the Jews to come back inside. If the initial first wrong doing of the Jews opened the door for the gentiles, imagine what will happen when they return and go back through the door, it will set off an unimaginable homecoming.
The Jews have been on the outside looking in for a long time, all the Jews have to do is walk back through the door, and God is waiting. In one way or another God lets us experience what it means to be on the outside, so that he can personally hold the door and welcome us back in to his fold.
It personally has been a long year for me, and everything I am sharing with you today, lined up with scripture taught last night at church with Brother Lassiter. Everything I experienced was for a reason, the rejection, pain, hurt, loneliness, questioning, despair, and Love. It was so that I would know what it was like to be on the outside looking in, and when the time came, I could run through those doors, and know what an awesome homecoming God has in store. Last night at church, God touched me. His word touched me. Now that you and I have felt what it is like to be on the outside, lets turn and go through the door together. The door is open, run with all your might, God is waiting, and the homecoming is incredible. God’s wisdom is deep, and I will not probably fully understand all this last year trials, I am just happy, smiling and going home, through the door. See you inside. Thank you Jesus!
