Topic

Rejection

Rejection

When a classmate or friend ignores you or leaves you out of their play, you feel bad.  As if you’re not important to them.  Have you ever wondered if Jesus understands how you feel when someone ignores or rejects you?  Let’s see what the Bible says about rejection.

Jesus does know what it feels like to be rejected. It’s in the Bible, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" (Isaiah 53:3, NIV). Many of Jesus’ own family and neighbors did not respect him. “And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor” (Mark 6:3, 4, NIV).

Jesus felt bad when others rejected him. He cried real tears when He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34, NIV).

Does the Bible say anything about parents who reject their children? Yes! “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” (Psalms 27:10, NIV).

Is it wrong to reject someone because of where they live or how they look? It’s in the Bible, “…For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:11, NIV). When looking for a king, God told Samuel not to look at the height of a person or what he looks like, “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NKJV).

We show we don’t reject Jesus when we accept His offer to save us.  We accept Jesus as He accepts us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever [that means you too] believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NAS).

The good news is that even when other people leave you out of their activities –or lives—God will never reject you!  It’s in the Bible “. . . . Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, NIV).