Rejection

Through the years with my family frequently moving and finding new churches, it has always been a challenge finding new friends. When we would begin attending a new church, many times those in the church I would expect to be friends with already had their friendships made and inadvertently or intentionally rejected me. And since we moved about every three years for my dad’s job, the situation kept occurring. Because of this I found myself continually trying to “fit in” and not merely being myself. But as I thought about this something hit me. While He was on this earth, Jesus had no close friends. His twelve disciples were the closest earthly friends He ever had. And he knew them for about three years! But when push came to shove, when He was taken away to be condemned and killed, they all left Him. One of His closest friends, Peter, went so far as to deny that he even knew who Jesus was. But did Jesus let that bother Him? No, instead he merely said “I came to do the will of Him who sent Me”. He found His comfort in praying to His Father both in the good times when the crowds were searching for Him, and in the bad times when all forsook Him. “He was despised and rejected of men… But He was wounded for our transgressions”. Those who rejected Him, He died for. Those who spat in His face, He bled for. Those who denied Him, He loved to the end. So should I let it worry me when I merely get a cold shoulder? No, instead I should go to my heavenly Father in prayer. And if I’m ever popular and have plenty of friends, I still need to go to Him in prayer to seek wisdom. Someone said “For every hundred men who can handle trials well, there is only one man who can handle success well”. May God help us whether we are popular or not to glorify Him and handle it well.