Today’s Challenges: Rejected but loving anyway

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m not very smart regarding relationships. There are times when I need to focus on what I am doing just a little more, perhaps be a little more aware than I am.

Most likely all of us at sometime uses our time poorly and perhaps relate to others in less than appreciated ways.

A friend, Tom, told me that recently they had one of their young grand daughters visiting. She got a Barbie Doll and was playing with it on the floor. He being a good grandfather, got down on the floor with her and tried to show some interest in what she was doing. After a few minutes she looked at him and said, “Grandpa, don’t you have somewhere else you can play?” Wow! That’s pretty blunt, but she made it clear that she knew what she intended to do and didn’t want him interfering.

How do you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped? How do you share with someone who doesn’t want your input? How do you love someone who doesn’t want to be loved? Jesus had that problem though he understood exactly what people needed. Yet even he couldn’t force them to want or except his company, his teaching or his love.

Jesus understood this completely and warned his followers in Luke 9:22, “The Son of Man must suffer a great deal and be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes. Then he must be killed, but on the third day he will be raised.”

In Matthew 23:37 Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling.”

Rejected! How do you deal with being rejected? That’s one of our greatest fears isn’t it? Why don’t we get more involved in people’s lives? Why aren’t we more open in telling others about the Gospel message? It’s not that we fear folks will harm or kill us (for the most part), it’s that we fear they may reject us and our message isn’t it? Should that stop us from sharing, from trying to be involved in the lives of other folks? Of course not… It didn’t stop Tom from loving that granddaughter and it didn’t stop Jesus from loving this world. What about you?

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By Russ Lawson

Today’s Challenges

Russ Lawson is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with his column Today’s Challenges. He is semi-retired and an elder at the Mid-County Church of Christ. He can be reached at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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