“I don’t belong.”
Please recognize this for the lie it is. Our enemy uses this tactic a lot, and just because someone finds themself feeling it doesn’t make it true. The enemy is going to plague each of us with this internal malaise of self-doubt and a spirit of resignation. Don’t be outwitted by his tactics.
We know this strategy of the enemy has been around since the early church because Paul needed to address it with the believers in Corinth.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. – 1 Cor 12:14-16
I like that he asks the obvious, “would that make it any less a part?” Of course not. Nonetheless, people are going to feel like they don’t belong. Each of us, at times, sees how others do it and feel like we could never be like them. The enemy’s fiery darts pierce our minds unless our faith shields (Eph 6:16) are in place and braced for the mental and emotional struggle. I don’t have to be like you and I still belong. You don’t have to be like me, or anyone else you see in the church, and you still belong.
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. – 1 Cor 12:18-20.
At a minimum, the enemy is going to employ this lie to try to get important parts of the church to stop serving the church, feeling like others have it covered or will do a better job. At the worst, he tries to get important parts of the church to give up on themselves and life altogether. Don’t get suckered in. Don’t fall for this nasty strategy. You belong.
Pastor John Riley