The Outcasts
“Jesus loved the outcasts, he loves the ones the world just loves to hate.”
These words from Relient K’s 2001 album both encourage and challenge me. See, it’s a rare, and very wonderful thing that He loves the broken, failing, outcasts. I think it is a beautiful paradox that the King of Kings and Prince of Peace, the enthroned one of Heaven, would come to earth to offer the unwanted ones a priceless gift.
Another angle to see this lyric quote from, is that because Jesus has called us to be an alien in this world, (John 17:16, John 15:9, Romans 12:2) we have become the outcasts. We are outcasts for His glory.
See, in this upside down kingdom known as The Kingdom of God, everything is reversed; the first becomes last (Matt. 20:16), the kingdom belongs to children, (Luke 18:16) and the perfect Son was slain for the imperfect (2 Cor. 5:21). Wouldn’t it make sense then, that the outcasts become God’s beloved children? So the question is, do we follow Christ’s example? Do we love the hurting ones that you’d never see in church on a Sunday morning? Are we out there loving those “diamonds in the rough,” or are we worried about our reputation and image too much to manifest Christ by loving the “outcasts”? Last week, I wrote on love and made this statement, “Love Him, love them; that is your religion.” See, our faith boils down to a four letter word: Love. Let’s make sure we’re doing it right. ~ Sophia Wise
