Rejection

Have you ever been rejected? Ever been made to feel you are not good enough? Like you don't measure up. You don't fit in. You are inferior. You are unwanted and unwelcome.

Any person who has ever felt this way knows the sting it brings and the deep sorrow. Such feelings have brought more than one person down. Children have experienced this rejection from their parents. Students have experienced this from teachers and other students. Athletes have experienced this from coaches. Employees have suffered this same fate from employers when they have been fired or passed over for a promotion. Job applicants know the sting of rejection when the company decides to go with another applicant over them.

I just returned from making a visit. I heard another kind of rejection. When religious people judge and reject people who need help the most. People who lost their way and wandered down a painful and harmful course of life. The holier than thou types sit in their pristine chapels looking down their pious noses at those who desperately need Jesus the most. They need to gospel message of the cross, the death of Jesus, His shed blood, His mercy and His grace..

I heard the testimonies of people today who got burned by the church. They love Jesus and desire to be close to Him. Church is a whole other matter. They have seen and experienced first hand the rejection of religious people. They have heard the whispers, seen the scornful stares and felt the betrayal.

Jesus made room for sinful broken people. He did not excuse their sin. He did not turn a blind eye to sin. He did make room for broken, sinful, confused, and wounded people. His love and grace were and still is big enough to save, deliver, adopt and welcome all kinds of people. He demands repentance. He accepts dirty, flirty, sin stained and scarred people. He redeems them. He reclaims them. He restores them.

I am thankful Jesus did not reject me when I first came to Him. I sure was not much to work with. Nobody saw potential in me back then bu tJesus. All these years later I am more thankful that He still does not reject me. I have been rejected by men. More than I could ever put into words. As tough as I am, if I were honest, I would have to admit the rejection of people has hurt deeply. The acceptance of Jesus is sufficient.

For all those rejected by others Jesus stands with open arms to embrace. To the sinner He calls for you to repent and to be cleansed by His grace. To the condemned Jesus offers pardon. To the abandoned Jesus offers His constant companionship. To the ostracized Jesus offers close communion. To the guilty Jesus offers forgiveness.

To ever religious person in every church who judges and condemns rejecting those who need the gospel and the church the most I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You are hypocrites. Clean and pure on the inside but filthy rotten on the inside. You may dress up the outside but you are stinking sewage of sin on the inside.

To the rejected I echo the words of an old hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of His glory and grace." His eyes are filled with love and compassion. His heart longs to accept you. His arms are wide to embrace you.