Feeling un-invited & longing for heaven

Chris Chowdhury is a friend of mine and has written an incredibly insightful entry in his blog (http://chrischowdhury.com/). Regarding a seminary counselling course, Chris wrote the following:

One concept we consistently arrived at in the course was the unshakable lie. This a lie we hear at some point in our life and then spend the rest of our life believing about ourselves unless we find truth in Christ. Everyone has a lie…
“You are ugly.”
“You are a failure.”
“It is all your fault.”
“You are stuck.”
“God will not forgive you.”
“You cannot change.”
“No one really wants to hear what you think.”

The class helped me identify (more like re-identify) the lie I keep falling for… “You are not invited.” Yeah, no matter what someone tells me or what I see in the Word of God, my default outlook is that I am not ever going to be invited to the table. What does this mean? To be invited is to be valued and to be valued is to have purpose - purpose from God. The lie someone once told me and I’ve apparently failed to relinquish says I am of no value to anyone else and they would be better off if I didn’t show up to dinner. It says I am worthless. But it’s a lie.

Follow the link above to see how Chris uses the word of God to combat this lie. I found his writing insightful, because I've had the same feelings before--especially in our shift from Chi Alpha to World Missions. In XA, I was a District Rep. I had a title and people knew my name. I could also speak the language. Here, people can't even pronounce my name and I struggle to speak. Speaking a huge part of preaching and a part of a pastor's identity. When you don't speak well, people are hesitant to invite you to preach. So, I often share the feeling of not being wanted at the table.

I think that part of this feeling in all of us is the enemy trying to make God’s kids feel like outsiders. But, I think also that another part is a God given longing for home. We are meant to be with the Lord. Mankind was created to be walking in the garden with God in a personal way. I think our feeling of “un-invitedness” is part of our souls hankering for home. When you don't feel invited to the party, and you're stuck watching the other kids have fun, you long for a friend to show up. That's why, in the last two sentences of the Bible, the Apostle John writes for all of us when he says, "Come Lord Jesus."