“I want to belong… I want to be somebody… just what is a clique anyway?”

Clique (noun): A small, exclusive group of people who share things in common.

“Hey new guy! How about joining our group?”

“Huh?”

“We’re the S.N.O.B.S. (self-worshiping nest of brainless show-offs!)… And we want you to hang with us! Here’s our list of rules! Get included or be excluded!

“You’ll need the right kind of clothes… you’ll have to change your hairstyle and learn our code words!”

“Wait a minute! Can’t I just be me?”

“No way! You gotta fit in with the group!”

“You want to be cool don’t you? Team up with us and you’ll have instant friends!”

“Well… I do need friends…”

“You’ve got until tomorrow to decide. Later, bonehead!”

“Hey dude! I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation! You don’t need those phonies! You know, Jesus Christ ran into some ancient cliques in the Bible!”

“He did?”

“They were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and Jesus wouldn’t follow their man-made rules!”

“What did they do?”

“They had him killed!”

“Oh wow!”

“The Bible says that He was born to die! ‘…Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

“A friend once told me that sin didn’t fit in with God’s holiness! He read this verse from the Bible: ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23).

“Then he pointed out a passage of Scripture that really made me think. ‘For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit’ (1 Peter 3:18).

“When he shared the Gospel something ‘clicked’ inside me! ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and save me! The eternal life He promised was given to me as a gift!

“That overwhelming desire to belong is from God! He wants you to belong to His forever family! Would you like to belong to Jesus Christ forever?”

“Dear God, thank You for loving me enough to send Your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins and rise from the dead to give me a home in heaven with You.

“I trust you as my Lord and Savior now and for all eternity. Amen.”