Rejected by Men

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.

Isaiah 53:3 (NJKV)

Thought for today: Scott so wanted to be like the other kids, to be able to play games outside during recess, to be able to run through the hallways of his school.  He tried in every possible way to be like them, yet at every turn he faced the sting of rejection as he was not included in activities, even though he could only be a spectator. You see, Scott's legs stopped working when he was very young due to SMA, a degenerative neurological disorder.  He would likely be confined to a wheelchair all of his days.

Have you ever felt the sting of rejection and tried everything in your power to avoid it?  Do you think that Jesus felt rejected when He became man?  It is unimaginable to think about what Jesus gave up to become one of us.  The baby in the manger, so adored, would soon become the man rejected by many.  I can only imagine that His pain when rejected was even more magnified than ours. Not only were people rejecting Him but also His message of salvation.  Jesus knew that by not believing in Him, they were doomed to eternal punishment.


Things changed for Scott when he met Jenny.  She wanted to spend time with him and told him that even though he couldn't run like the other kids, he had an amazing mind and a kind heart. Things started looking up for Scott as he suddenly began to see a new purpose in his life and was able to look beyond the rejection.

During this Christmas season, as you reflect upon God's wonderful gift to us of His Son,  examine your own heart.  Is fear of rejection holding you back from God's higher calling on your life?  Are there hurts from your past causing you to not want to risk relationships and reaching out to others? My prayer is that we all can look to Jesus as our role model.  Although rejected and despised, He continued to risk, continued to reach out to those around Him.  Will you ask Jesus today to help you to become more like Him?

December 16 Set Free

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)

Thought for today: During my teenage years, one of my cousins smashed his father's car into a tree.  When I asked him what happened, he told me that the tree just suddenly jumped out in front of him. Well, trees generally don't ambulate, so perhaps he was not paying attention when he steered into the tree.

We are all, by nature, inclined to be headed for a crash, it is called sin.  At a macro level, we cannot be looked upon by a holy God because of our inherent sin nature.  Without our Savior and His great sacrifice for us, that crash would be a long dive into hell and an awful eternal life.  At the micro level, we all have a propensity to sin and the consequences of sin can leave our lives like the front end of my uncle's car: mashed, mangled and in need of a major repair.

Have you thought about what is inside of your mind today?  When I think about my thoughts some days I could just cry.  Christ knows even the deepest, darkest thought that rattles around in your brain. You know, the one that you could never tell another living soul about.  He knows about the secret sins that have left their mark on your thought life.  Yet, Jesus still loves you so much and was willing to make such a sacrifice so that you could be set free from the bondage of sin.

So, you feel the urge to sin deep down in your spirit, to go your own way, regardless of whether it is God's way or not.  How do you stop the wreck from happening?  2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring every thought into captivity of Christ.  Like my cousin, if we are not paying attention, filtering our thoughts against God's Word, we can easily head for a wreck.  Ask the One upon whom our iniquities were laid to help you to live in obedience to Him and the Word.  If you have never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, then receiving God's free gift of forgiveness and salvation is a first step.  If you have received Him as your Savior but let Him take a back seat in your mind, my prayer is that you would bring Him to His rightful place.  For if you truly believe that Jesus is your Lord, then He must be the Lord of all of you: body, mind and soul.

December 13 - We are the Reason for the Season

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Thought for today: I've been listening to the song "Above all Power" and I'm struck by these lyrics: 

Crucified

Laid behind a stone

You lived to die

Rejected and alone

Like a rose

Trampled on the ground 

You took the fall

And thought of me

Above all.

Have you ever thought about how Jesus had you on His mind when He chose to come to earth as a man?  We so often consider that Jesus thought of us when He made the supreme sacrifice on Calvary. Yet, He thought of you more than His own desires when Father God asked Him to become one of us.  Being fully God, Jesus foreknew what He would suffer on this earth.  Yet, He chose to go anyway.  Imagine yourself in a battle situation where you know there is no way out alive yet you could save your comrades by accepting the assignment.   How many of us would do such a selfless act?

How then should we respond to such great love as this?   Worship.  As you go about your business this holiday season, take some time to reflect upon what Jesus did for you.  Draw close to Him, in reverence and thankfulness, for He so desires a relationship with you. You probably have heard the saying "He is the reason for the season."  While this is true, it is also true that you are the reason for the season.  Without having you and I in mind, putting us first, God would never have became man.  Let's praise Him for this wonderful love.