Rejection

Ron Writes

Ever worry about what “they” might think? Or what “they” will say or do? You know “they.” They are all seeing and all knowing. They are experts on the car you should drive, the house you live in, the way you should raise your children, the clothes you wear, the games you play – “they” are tyrants! They can keep us up nights.

God called Moses and he responded, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, “The Lord has not appeared to you” (Ex. 4:1, emphasis mine). Whatever they think can control you. Moses had been rejected 40 years earlier and he was still paralyzed, withdrawn and passive. 

Willard Tate writes “What do you suppose is the greatest fear with most people? I’m convinced that if we were to carry signs expressing it, they would read, “Please don’t reject me.”

They didn’t like Jesus. He was “Despised and rejected” (Isa. 53:3). He was never loved by everyone and He’s still not. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:11). Jesus experienced every form of rejection that we have. But, He didn’t allow them to define Him. We can’t let the fear of rejection define us either. 

Jesus was rejected but didn’t reject in return. He ministers to the rejected. He ministers to tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers and sinners. We are not motivated by what they might think, but by what God will think. He encourages us to live life with purpose. 

He reminds us that they don’t give us our worth, God does! We are told, over and over, “For He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me” (Heb. 13:5b-6)?