"You're Not Jewish Anymore."

If you're a messianic Jew, you've heard this. Well-meaning Christians say it. Disappointed Jewish friends may say it. But is it true?

Being a Jewish believer in Yeshua is not an easy calling. It can mean being seen by people you love and respect as an outsider.

Let's just be honest. The world hates Jewish people now more than ever. The term "Zionist" is a thinly veiled accepted slur that is cast on every Jewish person who refuses to forsake our Biblical homeland, the one we get our name from.

It's easy for messianic Jews to feel more alone than ever as we walk the line of feeling partly in Christian culture, and partly accepted by our Jewish family, but completely rejected by the world.

But there is good news. Our Messiah understands.

As Yeshua hung on that cross, He had been rejected. A few days prior, the people were yelling, "Hosana, Save us!" Within days, He was an enemy, an outsider, a criminal who even His friends had run from when the trouble came.

And on that cross, as He cried, "My God, My God, Why have You forsake Me?" even God turned His face from Him for a time as He bore the weight of our sin.

He was alone.

Yeshua, more than anyone knows what that feels like.

But I want to tell you brother or sister, that you are alone. God is with you. Yeshua is with you. The Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And just as He has done for so many messianic believers, God will give you a community. Be open to what that might look like.

When you put your faith in Yeshua, you join a family of believers. You have the same Spirit burning within you. You have the same Father. It may feel foreign at the start: they don't eat the things you eat, worship the way you worship, or talk the way you talk- but keep praying and try to see what binds you together: Yeshua.

I'll be honest and say, it's a process. But the closer you to God and the more you begin to walk in your specific calling from Him, the less of a stranger and outsider you will feel.

Perhaps a part of every messianic Jew longs for the days we seamlessly fit into the Jewish community with an asterisk. But we now have the honor of carrying the Light of Yeshua which is more precious than fitting in. Your calling is a high one. Will you rise to it?

Yeshua once said, "Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." (Mattityahu- Matthew- 8:20). He knew what it was like to live between communities. Our rest is in Him. Our home is in Him. Our family is in Him, first.

Keep praying and reading your Bible. Don't hide your light under a bushel.

"And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." Mattityahu (Matthew) 28:20