Check Yes or No
Remember back to your elementary school days when you were smitten with that special someone? For the first time, you were willing to "put yourself out there" and send this person a note that read something like this: "If you like me, check yes or no." For most of us, that resulted in the first case of rejection. We were crushed and vowed we would never let another person know how we really felt about them.
Rejection is a difficult thing to manage and with which to live. You didn't get the job. Your spouse wants a divorce. Your children are testing your parenting skills. You were passed over for a promotion while the rookie got it. These are just tough situations. Another hard spot to find ourselves in is being rejected by someone with whom we have shared Christ. In fact, this is probably the most feared thing about telling others about Jesus.
The Good News of Christ is threatening to many people. Not everyone will accept it as good news. Jesus was despised and rejected by His very people and to the point that He was murdered. We can be thankful this did not end here. Jesus overcame death which provides us the hope of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. If Jesus experienced opposition and rejection, we can expect the same as we proclaim and serve Him. When we acknowledge this will be hard, we can focus and remain strong and committed even amidst antagonism.
We should refuse to allow opposition to paralyze us so we refuse to share about Jesus. And, when we do share Christ and experience this, we must not lose heart or give up and quit. We must pray for other opportunities to share with the person and that the Holy Spirit will work in his heart.
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Think It Through
o How do you handle opposition and rejection?
o If you have used rejection as an excuse not to share Jesus, how can you overcome this?
o How can you prepare yourself for opposition when sharing Jesus?
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