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"Outcast by Society"

*Note: The following article goes in a few different directions and covers a variety of topics within itself. It is a substantial bit longer than our average work, so feel free to read as little or as much as you want at your convenience. Cheers!*

        I think it is safe to say that being an outcast by the standards that society sets forth is arguably a good thing in light of Christian living. The definition of outcast reads: "A person who has been rejected by society or a social group" as an adjective we've got: "Rejected or cast out: made to feel outcast." Some synonyms include outlaw, exile, and castaway. If we go by the first aspect of this definition, we can see that Jesus Christ Himself was an outcast of the society during his time here on earth. While some people were serious followers of Jesus, and most of us can recall the anecdotes relayed to us in scripture regarding Biblical figures that believed in Him, there were a vast number of others who were very skeptical. These people, some of which included the Pharisees and the individuals who essentially put Jesus Christ to die on the cross, were respected figures within their community in that era. Looking back we can clearly see that they were most certainly wolves in sheep's clothing, but during that time many people were misled by these "righteous" folk. As far as I can recall throughout the gospel, for much of it you could make a compelling case that Jesus Christ was an outcast Himself. Here is our Lord and Savior Jesus, taking the form of a man to fulfill ultimate prophecy in order to save mankind from our sins and deliver us from perishing in our own sin. Reading scripture we can now see that while the circumstances at hand, to the people intimately involved in the story of the gospel, it must have seemed from their position (and finite perspectives' like ours), that calamity was all around them. Yet all of it was perfectly planned and orchestrated by God, and every little detail and prophecy that the Bible proclaimed was to come to pass did just that.

        Of course as believers, those of us that understand the magnitude of this sacrifice and the love demonstrated on our behalf on that cross, we are extremely thankful that Jesus Christ paid our fine. He paid the fine for our sins in blood, sweat, and tears so that we might not have to spend eternity in torment. Instead we have this beautiful gift, an opportunity to accept Jesus as our Savior and salvation for eternity. A precious gift by any measure, in fact it is immeasurable.

        Fast forward a bit over 2,000 years later, and we arrive to December 4th, 2012. Today, at least here in America and in many cases abroad, we have adopted a very secular culture. If the culture permeates the idea that an outcast is a bad thing to be, we tend to consider it important to avoid that label. After all, who wants to be rejected by society? It isn't very fun to gravitate away from the vast majority of others. Not only is it not fun, it's also anything but comfortable. Our society has generally embraced a perspective that revolves around self-centeredness, indulgence, instant-gratification, and luxury.

        Many of us, myself included, fail to remember the importance of stepping out of our comfort zone when it matters the most. Granted stepping out of comfort may not instantly guarantee that great things are being done, but if we dig deeply we can mostly figure out that anything worth doing typically bears some kind of challenge or discomfort. Some examples of stepping out in positive ways may include: Financial stewardship, loving and caring for others, being grateful and courteous, and employing common sense in unusual situations among others. The list truly goes on and on, and these things do not come very easily normally. It takes a persistent, conscious effort and some things have a longer time horizon than others. Additionally, we may not be able to accurately assess or measure our progression in some of these areas. Even still many are worth incorporating actively and making sure they are an aspect of our daily living.

        Now that I have highlighted a few examples and ideas of meaningful pursuits/goals that may incorporate a certain degree of discomfort I would like to return back to the original idea of being an outcast and how that label works in the context of our day and age. Being an outcast is definitely something that would be of great discomfort to almost anyone, it isn't something that comes natural to one of us who has been generally acceptable in light of day-to-day circumstances in a society. The term itself I believe carries a negative connotation, people generally desire to fit in and not strain themselves to go too hard against the current. The current is of course representative of societal norms in this example. We tend to go with the flow rather than break habits, change our lifestyle, and are for the most part reluctant to trade off some of our comfort for a few more challenges. I myself cannot stress enough how I am sure there are countless ways I need to improve in these kinds of scenarios myself. I think that I have had these patterns crop up frequently; it is easier to go back to what you've continually been doing than to try to change things around and try to seek new things to do. Whether the activity is good, bad, or neutral - I am almost certain that everyone has an activity in his or her lives or some kind of pursuit that they know is not really essential. Not only are they non-essentials, but also it may not even be reasonable to allocate the kind of time we do to these pursuits. I myself have stumbled into this exact issue with Computer Gaming to name only one thing. I find myself playing certain games to a point where some other more important priorities have taken a backseat to my game time. So when this happens I tend to question why I even play. Some of the questions I ask myself are like these:

- What is the purpose of this hobby/activity?
- Does it pay the bills?
- Does it offer something of tangible service to the community?
- Is some other sort of benefit being generated by my play? (I.e.: If I exercise I would become more physically fit, If I recycle the world will become more sustainable, etc...)
- How much time does it occupy?
- Should I cut down on it in order to lead a more balanced life, instead of allowing the game to become my primary focus?

        If I am being frank the answer to most of these questions is a resounding no as far as the first 4, and one of the few that isn't is the one that asks about how much time it occupies (yes you got it right, it isn't a yes or no question.) With that said I do believe there is a time and a place for activities that we enjoy and that we should not guilt ourselves for taking some time off our daily routines to do so. The only time these things of course become a problem, is when they detract from essentials of life or get to a point of occupying an exceeding number of hours that need to be more responsibly diversified among other activities as well. I for one feel that I have a fairly addictive personality, and while in most areas I am a "responsible addict" I can see both the blessing and the curse in this personality trait. As far as being a curse, I suppose that reason is fairly obvious now but I will make mention of it anyways, I tend to pursue things that I enjoy doing to a point where my goal is to become adept or master the activity. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when the activity at hand begins to occupy more and more of my time and I am sweeping aside activities like writing articles for this website to do so, I feel as though the cons outweigh the pros by a large margin. On a positive note, being addictive to a degree but perhaps not merging into the compulsive side of things, can lead to great success in whatever you choose to diligently apply yourself. If you apply it to something very healthy, or a few things that are positive, such as building a great marriage relationship, striving towards solidifying your career, or best of all planting seeds in Gods' kingdom and living out His plan for you based on an eternally minded perception - you'll be doing very good things with this addiction. The key is not to choose only one thing, and to choose these things wisely so that they aren't a complete waste of time better spent elsewhere. Everyone has within themselves their own idea of what constitutes success. That varies drastically from person to person, and even among believers we might value certain aspects of obeying God in different ways (a lot of it revolving around the gifts and talents that we are allocating to serve the kingdom in unique ways, but there are sure to be other reasons.) Success can be measure, as is common with today's culture and what the vast majority of people seem to unfortunately adopt, is a correlated to monetary success. Others feel as though success is more so about enjoying life, what's all the money in the world going to do for you if you're not happy with your job or your life is too busy with work to enjoy any of what God has blessed you with. Still yet others define success by the heavenly rewards they are storing up for themselves and the positive impact and legacy they are leaving behind them after they pass away into eternity. Certainly each success has a reasonable perspective to back it, but like I said this is something that will almost always vary from person to person. As much as focusing on storing up heavenly treasure should be among ones' biggest considerations, we should all prayerfully consider where we should place our focus and ask God to enlighten us as to what constitutes success for us personally.

        Someone might ask what success means to me, and I would elaborate that fulfilling the great commission (spreading the message of the gospel by means of evangelism through personal testimony, writing, speaking, leading by example, and so forth) is a large component of it. I would also put financial stewardship and responsibly allocating my time, energy, and resources would be of great practical importance both in terms of eternity and living life one day at a time tackling the situations and obstacles that present themselves to all of us in one form or another. Finally, I would say one would be remiss not to mention that while diligence, work ethic, and focusing on meaningful activities is important - we all need a healthy dose of relaxation, down-time, rest, and interests to divert our attention away from everyday activities and alleviate the stressors of life that can creep up on a regular basis.

        Surely I sidestepped a great deal away from my original point regarding Jesus Christ being an outcast, but to bring it back in that direction, I do feel that in many specific ways one would be in good standing to be an outcast. Taking a look at Jesus Christ and His journey throughout the gospel, He was outcast for speaking truth in several instances. The ultimate of these circumstances was when they put him to die on the cross for claiming to be the Messiah (which he was, is, and always will be). Additionally he was persecuted on the road to that sacrifice, and He was perfect. If we think about that in terms of today, we can clearly see that it could be borderline dangerous to be acceptable and liked by too many people in the world in which we live. I am by no means advocating that we should go out and make as many enemies as we can, that definitely isn't the case, what I mean is if the whole world loves us I think we need to ask ourselves if we are setting a good Christian example. Is our living testimony day in and day out, assuming no alterations in its' course, something that we would be proud of at the end of our lives?

        Nobody knows when his or her time will come, only God knows. We all operate under the presumption that we will continue to live, and that is a good thing because we live the present in consideration of future to a substantial degree as well. Once we meet God face to face on the day of judgment, we need to ask ourselves will we be candidates to hear "Well done good and faithful servant" or will we be one of those who barely squeezes into heaven? Granted its better than the alternative no doubt, but I think it isn't just about being guaranteed heaven. I am infinitely thankful that God has given me that gift, but if I am truly thankful for it I should be more than happy to take up Gods' plan for my life. After all my life is His anyways, to do with what he pleases, and furthermore he happens to have my best interests at heart when he guides me. I would surely be settling for less than what is in my own best interest to do anything other than that. I must admit of course, that being the fallible sinner I am, I do get distracted, sin, and fall into the traps of the adversary from time to time. If it weren't for the grace of God more often than not I would be doomed to fail in these aspects, but in some areas I am fortunate to be blessed with many victories while in other areas I still struggle to this day. Surely God will deliver me in His timing, and I want to submit to His authority in every area (not just the convenient ones for myself), but even in the difficult to tackle ones. I just want to make sure that the things I do and do not do, when my life is spent and God has taken me home, I do not want to harbor any regret. I want to pursue righteousness and thirst to do good for others; I want to fulfill the great commission through initiatives like FSS(FatherSpiritSon.com) and speaking to others when given a chance in person, online, anywhere. I want to be able to achieve things that will leave a legacy behind, that everyone would remember that the world was better off that I stepped foot on it than if I didn't. That I set a good example for my friends and family, and tried my best to honor all of God's plans for me and His commands. These are all bold commitments, and require God's help, strength, mercy, and guidance above all else to fulfill. If we allow God to work through us, we can achieve all these things and we can prosper according to the degree by which he would have us prosper. This might not always be what we think is ideal to ourselves, it might not always be in a financial or materialistic sense, but the good news is that it doesn't necessarily have to be. He knows what we can and cannot handle, and we need to trust that what we have and what we don't have is all for the better. Let's not adopt a "grass is greener on the other side" mentality, and try to be grateful for what is in front of us. If you're reading this you've got a computer, you've got eyes to see, and you've been blessed with a number of very substantial blessings that not everyone has here on earth. God only knows why some people have not been given the gift of eye sight, and certainly many people throughout the world do not have access to a computer (much less the internet). I am not saying that these are integral parts of fulfilling God's work or for being a Christian for that matter. We know they aren't, nor am I saying those that do not have these things aren't blessed. That isn't it either. What I mean is the unique circumstances that God has assigned to us in this life, are there for a reason. It isn't a coincidence that you are here on earth, as am I, in the year 2012. We could have been born in any point in the history of humanity up to this point, but somehow God saw that it made sense for us to be around in this era. Let's all prayerfully consider why we are here, let's ask Him to help us decipher our true purpose amidst the clutter of the world. Whether the world claims you are useless or discarded, nobody has the authority of the King of Kings to be able to make this kind of judgment call. Trust that God uses outcasts, and even if society tells us that we are abnormal, outcast, or have something of lack (hint: everyone who thinks hard enough will be missing something in terms of socially embraced ideals), God knows who you are better than you know yourself. He loves you faults and all, and if you are willing to embrace His plan for you and open the door for Him to step in, He will use you to fulfill a greater purpose. Even those that are atheists who do not recognize God, they themselves are fulfilling His purpose. Whether they realize it or not, or trust it is the case, the actions they take on this earth aren't something that God was taken off guard by. Things happen as they do and as much as we make mistakes in general as human beings, God makes no mistakes. So in light of eternity, and in light of the collective view of the entire universe with humans having free will and all, somehow all of this is synthesized into the inscrutable plan and mysterious ways of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

        While I set out to focus more on being an outcast, and whether or not it was something to be afraid of, the Holy Spirit clearly led me in a few different directions in this article. I hope that the words given to me will impact you in a positive way, and whether the world has rejected you or not, that you recognize God highly values you. I want to close this article with the following prayer for you our readers, for Jim, and for myself as well:

Dear God,

        Thank you for sending Jesus Christ, who was outcast by the world, to die for our sins. He died for the very humans that crucified Him, and we are just as guilty for being sinners and violating his commands at one point or another in our lives. We consistently still fall short of perfection, and always will here on earth, yet I pray that you give us the boldness, strength, and spiritual guidance to remedy our shortcomings and thirst for righteousness. Please do not allow us with what is accepted by society, let us be tolerant in the sense of mercy and understanding not in a sense of apathy and compromise. I pray that everything we do in our lives, we think of our accountability to you above all else and allow every other aspect of life to fall into its' proper order. We confide that if we will put our main focus and attention toward you, and disallow it from shifting elsewhere for too long, that you have never and will never let us down. Help us to remember that being an outcast is not something we should necessarily pursue outright, but that being a Christian does have a certain degree of scrutiny, discomfort, and persecution associated with it that we should expect with the territory. I pray that you continue to bless us with the tools needed spiritually and physically, to persistently pursue the race that you have set before us in our lives. Help us to run to win that race, because it is shorter than we think and has a greater impact than any of us can imagine. Please compensate for our mistakes and shortcomings through your rectification, and help us not to scorn your correction. Finally, I ask that you please help us to adopt humility in the manner that we choose to act instead of embracing a spirit of misappropriated pride and selfishness.

In Jesus Christ precious, holy, and mighty name I pray - Amen.

        Thank you for reading my article, this last article was long overdue and I am honestly thrilled to be writing once again. Hopefully it will not be as long as this last gap before God leads me to write another one. I appreciate your continued support of our website ministry, and I am also thankful to my co-author Jim for compensating for my inactivity in recent weeks with his own consistent writing. I appreciate this platform that God opened the door for us to share the gospel, and write Biblically inclined material. I hope that you will take some time today to share your thoughts, concerns, or opinions sometime with us at our e-mail fatherpsiritsonmail@yahoo.com. We truly appreciate hearing from you, and will try to respond in a very timely manner if you reach out to us. Feel free to discuss anything about scripture as well, and if you have any fresh article topics you would like to see covered we would also love to hear them. We cannot guarantee any particular topic would specifically be chosen, but if it is something that we have not covered extensively and has a very clear connection with God's word we will be more than happy to give it some consideration in our future writings. May God bless you and yours richly, and thank you once again for visiting our website!

-Victor Nunez