2/20/26

Have you ever felt out of place? Have you ever felt like a square peg in a round hole? Have you ever felt like you just don't fit in? Not that you are not welcome, but it's like wearing a business suit to a swimming party. They invite you in and are friendly to you but they know you are not getting in the pool with them. It is an awkward situation. Do you feel like you make friends quickly but you never make good friends? Have you been invited to the meal but they don't have a seat for you?

This is not necessarily a bad thing.

When you fit in and are at home in this world then there is a chance this world is your home.

Abraham was meeting with the people at the city gate. He was seeking to buy a specific piece of land to bury his dead wife Sarah. Listen to his words in Genesis 23:4 NASB95 “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Abraham was friendly to them and they were friendly to him. They showed him respect in the way they spoke to him and in their offer to him. He also showed them the same respect. Yet he made it clear. I know I am not a part of you. "I am a stranger and a sojourner among you." This world is not my home and you are not my people. I will show you love in truth. However, I must be Holy (set apart), different from everyone else. I can not do something that would make you or anyone else not see a difference between, having a grace-certified citizenship of heaven and those who refuse that, for a citizenship of earth. I will never be a part of you because I am a part of the family of God. My love and kindness will always be shown in truth. I appreciate the offer for my wife to be buried with your dead but then they might see me as part of you and not of God. So give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” This burial site, I will own, and it will be separate from you. I can not practice pagan rituals. I must strive to be Holy for the Lord.

The word "give," means to ascribe, deliver, distribute, render, or pay. So Abraham wasn't looking for a gift in fact he refused to accept a gift. His desire was to show that he was not a part of them. Not that he didn't care for, like, or desire them to join him in the Coming Messiah but that he was out of place on this earth. We are told this in Hebrews 11:8-9 NASB95 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

Hebrews 11:13 NASB95 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Although it is difficult to feel out of place, you need to know that you shouldn't feel in place. Jesus explained this in, John 15:19 NASB95 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

It is actually a good thing if you are not accepted in the world. Because you are not at home here. You are a stranger and a sojourner. You will leave your physical body to return to dust, as a new imperishable body is given to you.

If you are completely at home here, then read God's word until it accomplishes what it was sent to do. Then you will get a new address in the Father's house.

Love Bro. Scott