Truth for Those Who Feel Left Out

As I walked into class, the girls in the corner bowed their heads together in whispers and giggles.

I pretended I didn’t hear what they said, but trust me: I did.

Middle school gave me an unwanted taste of being left out. And at the time, it was a big deal to me.

Maybe you can relate to the experience of not fitting in—of feeling left-out and different.

The truth is, being a Christian in this world can make us feel like middle-schoolers all over again.

Because we don’t look like the world or fit into its mold, sometimes we miss out on invitations or we hear snickers as we leave the break room.

And that’s hard.

But 1 John 3:1 teaches us 2 truths and 1 task that can help us navigate misfit moments like these.

Listen to what it says:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. (NIV)

The Truths:

As Christians, 2 things are simultaneously true about us: We are unrecognized by the world, but we are lavishly loved by the Father.

Let’s explore these one at a time (in verse order).

Truth #1: We are lavishly loved by our Father.

The first part of the verse says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

While the world may reject us, God the Father has lavished love on us by adopting us as His children.

You know, the word for love here is “agapé,” which carries with it the meaning of intentionally choosing someone to love.^[1]

We need to realize:

Others may reject us, but God has chosen us.
We may not fit in with the world, but we fit in with God—we are His children, part of His very own family.

And it’s no small thing to be called children of God.

John makes that clear. After reminding us that God has called us His children, John says excitedly, “And that is what we are!”

You see, when God calls us His child, He isn’t just sticking a new nametag on the same-old us.

He is changing the very core of who we are.

No longer are we orphans scrappily fending for ourselves in life. Now, we are children with a Father—one who is committed to our well-being. The same Father who created us will stay nearby to sustain us. So our insides get to settle into rest. We get to live like little children again, dependently looking to our Father for everything we need.

What’s more, we no longer have to repeat our bad habits and the patterns of those who came before us. Because now, we have a perfect Father who is passing new patterns down to us through His Spirit. We are becoming more and more like Him. Day by day, we are transforming into the image of our new, heavenly Father.

So it really shouldn’t surprise us when the world doesn’t recognize us. We are different and we’re becoming more different every single day. This brings us to our next point.

Truth #2: We are unrecognized by the world.

In the second part of the verse, John says: “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.”

This points us back to John 1:10-12, which says of Jesus: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (NIV)

The world doesn’t accept us because it hasn’t accepted Jesus. We and they are children of different families, now.

You know, I’ll never forget returning from a middle-school sleepover and telling my mom, “I’m so glad to be home. Their family does things so differently!”

And similarly, the ways of God’s family are completely foreign to those outside of it.

So, even though it hurts, we shouldn’t be surprised when the world doesn’t understand and accept us. They don’t know our Father! They don’t know our Savior.

This passage invites us to pray for the salvation of those who reject both us and Jesus.

But it also encourages us to do something else.

The Task:

Did you notice the first word in the verse? “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (emphasis mine)

That word is calling us to look at, understand and attend to the powerful truths that follow.^[2] And I love that. What a great assignment to give ourselves.

When we are feeling misunderstood and ill-fitting in this world, let us set our minds to look at, understand and attend to God’s lavish, adoption love for us.

We may be unrecognized by the world, but we are lavishly loved by the Father.

^[1] https://biblehub.com/greek/26.htm

^[2] https://biblehub.com/greek/3708.htm

This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my reading plan: “Identity in Christ” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!

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