“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of this world. I chose you to come out of the world; so it hates you.”
(John 15:19, NLT)

“All of us know what it is like to be in a house that is not our own. Perhaps you’ve spent time in a dorm room or army barrack. Maybe you’ve slept in  your share of hotels …

We don’t always feel welcome here on earth. We wonder if there is a place here for us. People can make us feel unwanted. Tragedy leaves us feeling like intruders. Strangers. Interlopers in a land not ours. We don’t always feel welcome here.

We shouldn’t. This isn’t our home. To feel unwelcome is no tragedy. Indeed it is healthy. We are not home here.  This language we speak, it’s not ours. This body we wear, it isn’t us. And the world we live in, this isn’t home.

(from Grace For The Moment, by Max Lucado, page 157)