REJECTION
For
me, the saddest verse in the Bible is John 6:66: “From that time many of his disciples
went back, and walked no more with him.” The second saddest is nine
verses later: “Neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7:5). Jesus came
to save the world. He required commitment, but his disciples couldn’t handle
it. They had their own ideas about how to live and about how Jesus should act
too. Jesus didn’t agree with either. Rejection: Jesus shows us what to do about
it.
We all get rejected
sometimes. We’ve asked for, at least hoped for, some kind of commitment, and
the person we asked was not willing to give it. We’ve also been in situations
where we refused to fit into the type of person someone else thought we should
be. It feels unfair, but it happens, and we have several choices of what to do
about it. When I read the scriptures in John, I felt so bad for Jesus. I
thought, “Don’t they get it? Jesus is the son of God. Why are they
being so stupid and so mean?” These people had been following Jesus,
but then when he actually required a commitment from them, they said no. It
kind of broke my heart. But then I kept reading and saw exactly how Jesus
handled the rejection. It’s how we need to handle it as well.
After the people left
off listening to Jesus, he just moved on. He was in Jerusalem, but he moved
away. It says in John 7:1: “After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee: for he
would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.” Then when it was
feast time and his brethren thought he should go to the feast in Jerusalem with
them, he told them to go on ahead. He wasn’t going to do what they wanted him
to do just because they thought he should. He did what God wanted him to do,
and we need to be doing the same.
As it turns out, Jesus
did go to the feast in Jerusalem, but he went privately. God sent him to
Jerusalem, directly to the temple, where he preached the gospel of God, like he
always did, with boldness.
Jesus didn’t stop
preaching. He didn’t stop speaking the truth in love. He didn’t stop calling a
spade a spade. When he saw corruption, greed, and unrighteousness, he plainly
exposed it. Jesus wasn’t afraid.
Even when those closest
to him rejected and criticized him, he didn’t stop doing what God’s Word said
to do. He didn’t let rejection change him. As far as this section of John tells
us, it doesn’t even look like he allowed himself to be sad about the situation.
What a great attitude!
Jesus could instantly
turn his eyes on God and do the next thing with joy. That’s amazing to me, and
I’m beginning to have that kind of mindset as well. Jesus didn’t quit or let
himself be weakened by rejection. He stayed strong.
When we get rejected by
people who don’t want to be around us, or by those who don’t think we’re acting
like they want us to act, we can do what Jesus did, and just let them go. It seemed
easy for Jesus, but often it’s not that easy for us.
As some of you know,
recently the Lord melted 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 into my heart. I say “melted”
because I feel it’s a real part of me now, and I am quickly becoming what it
says: 19 “What? Know ye not that our body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
The word “know” in verse
19 in the original Greek is “eido,” and it means “to perceive by any of the
senses, to discover, to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything. It means
“observe, understand, to have regard
for, cherish, and pay attention to.” When we surrender all to the Lord, it
changes us. I tell God every day now that my body, my mind, my emotions, and my
spirit are His. I repeat it so that I “eido” it.
The biggest change I’ve
seen manifested in me is that I don’t respond to rejection like I did before. I
can easily shrug it off and walk away like Jesus did, and if you happen to know
the old me, that’s a miracle! God took my natural emotions and changed them to
what Jesus has! That’s a WOW!
We can replace the
rejector with the lovers, God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The words to an old
Christian hymn ring true here:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full, in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace
Love, Carolyn
Have a great week!
The above hymn was
written in 1922 by Helen Lemmel, and was inspired by a tract written by the
missionary Isabella Trotter.
Don't
forget to get your copy of BIBLE LESSONS FROM NATURE. Great stories for leisure
reading on the weekends :-). Good lessons for kids and teens too :-)
