A Bona Fide Alien

Do you remember those "picking who's it" games we played as children?

"Bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?"

"...and you are not it you dirty old dishrag YOU!"


I am IT on purpose.  You may be, too.  The oddball.  The standout.  Different than all the rest.

Hebrews 11:13-16 describes it this way:

[Heroes of the Christian faith, who were living by faith, such as Abraham] did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

As a Christian, is it easy for you to say - yep, that's me!  A bona fide alien right here.  I love being different.  Yessiree.  Love standing out in a crowd.  In fact, what I like to do is observe the crowd around me as each person lines up to do the same as all the others, then I step out and go a different way.  I am comfortable doing something completely different than anyone else.  In fact, it excites me.  Invigorates me.  Brings me joy.

I would love to say the above paragraph is a to-a-tee description of me, but I fail.  Often.  I mess up a lot.  Sometimes I wish I could blend in with the wallpaper instead of stick out like a sore thumb.  I wander away from God.  I pretend I'm like everyone else.  

And I am.  Totally human, fallible, broken...but the differences is that I've been redeemed.  Paid for.  Forgiven and Freed.  Not because of anything I've done.

Except one thing - I accepted.  

God offered His forgiveness with one condition - that I accept it!  Like a gift.  No strings attached.

And it's the gift that keeps on giving.  Every time I mess up, I know I can be forgiven again.  God's love is like an ocean and each time I ask forgiveness, he gives me a bucketful, full and brimming over.

Can you imagine how many bucketfuls there are in the ocean?   

The awesome part about this is it's available to every man, woman and child on planet Earth.

All we have to do is say, "YES!"  

Just.  Plain.  Amazing.

And then there is a knowing that comes.  A knowing that we are not designed to live on Earth forever.  Heaven is our true home.  So when death comes, there is no fear.  There is joy!  

I know I am not meant to stay on Earth forever.  Neither are you.

This knowledge also shrinks my problems - what I am worrying about today will probably not be an issue in a week or a year.  What will this problem look like in view of eternity?  

I'm glad to be a Bona Fide Alien!