Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Displaced from the world

“Therefore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you," Read 2 Corinthians 6:17.

To the displaced,

The pain of the cross is the pain of displacement. When we give our lives to Christ the cross begins to break our worldly dependencies. This displacement comes in a variety of different forms. We may be misunderstood because we are no longer speaking the same language of those around us. We may feel isolated and alone because our citizenship is from a different world. We may endure trials that include suffering, betrayal and rejection. Every step along the way the still small voice of Christ says, “If you love me, follow and obey.

Christ knew displacement. His own mother, brothers and sisters thought that He had gone mad. Those who hailed Him as Kings also mock, rejected, and wounded Him. One of His own disciples sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. These things were painful, even to the Son of God.

He allows us to be displaced so that we can know the only true place where we belong. He wants us to know Him in all of His glory. Our trials and rejections expose the deepest things within us that keep Him from fully knowing us. (He knows all about us, but He wants us to give Him the deepest things of our lives) Trials and displacement force us to radical decision making. Will we go deeper into His love or will we seek our comfort elsewhere? Displacement truly moves us to more deeply accept or reject Christ.

God never allows anything that is not determined for our highest good. Christ knows how painful life on this earth can be. He also knows the glory of drawing security from the Father, rather than from earthly circumstance. The one who is displaced has the richest ministry to others. He or she can freely give because there is no fear of loss. As long as there is a vital relationship with Christ, there is life and everything needed for the moment. Nothing can separate them from the love of Christ. Each moment will turn into a richer, deeper moment for the one who chooses to press into Him. Amen!