Rejection

Rejection....

Refusal to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use.

(Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary)

A person I used to work with told me that they felt rejection was one of the worse emotions that a person can feel. Rejection hurts. I've been rejected in my lifetime, in one way or another...from a kid being picked last to be on a sports team in school, to someone else being selected for a job position I felt I was qualified for....just to name a couple. I'm sure we all have in one way, or another, felt rejection. I had a conversation with a sweet lady just this week who is feeling rejected by a situation in her family, and she is so sad about it...feeling used, neglected...maybe even a bit unloved.

But...guess what??? Jesus was rejected, too. I told Pappy once, concerning a situation that I was in, that who did I think I was that I shouldn't suffer any kind of pain, or rejection....compared to what Jesus went thru.

Do you realize he was even rejected by His own family?

Mark 6:1-6 (NKJV)

Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

What sticks in my mind when I read these verses is "so they were offended at Him". Oh, how He must have hurt. Have you ever felt rejected because you tried to witness to somebody and they didn't want to hear what you had to say? Have you discovered that it is sometimes the hardest to witness to people in your own family? That must be just a small example of how Jesus felt!!! Sometimes you can get strangers to listen to you before your own family will. Have you ever had somebody treat you as if they were "offended" at you? About 25 - 30 years ago, I worked in an office and during lunch several of us attended a Bible study. I loved it. We took our lunch and ate in one of the conference rooms and had a very informal Bible study. I can't even remember what we discussed, but I know I enjoyed it. There were a couple of people in the office who I overheard making fun of me because I attended this study. Did it stop me from going? No. Did it hurt my feelings? Yes, it did. Because....rejection hurts!!! The wonderful thing about it though...is that because Jesus suffered the ultimate rejection....we can turn to Him when we're feeling left out, taken for granted...even unloved...because He felt all those same emotions during His time on earth!!!

Isaiah 53:3 (NKJV)

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

In His Love...and with mine!!!