This is a guest post by my dear friend, Elizabeth Mckenzie:

The phone rang.  It was a person very dear to me and she was upset, and had been absolutely mortified. As she explained what happened to me I began to sympathize with how she felt. She told me  she was on her way home and she stopped by a family member’s house. Before arriving she was unaware that they had a full house with company. And upon entering the the house her family member’s granddaughter said “What are you doing here? I’m tired of seeing you here!” They all laughed as the child proceeded to keep saying “What are you doing here? It’s you again?” None of the adults reprimanded the child but instead laughed and she did it more.

Something happened in my friend as she stood in that room full of people laughing at her. She felt embarrassed and rejected. Feeling hurt, she made her visit short, not because of what the child said but more so of how the adults responded. Not one person welcomed her as they snickered at the child’s rude behavior. In that moment she felt unwanted and rejected.

Have you ever been snubbed or rejected? Perhaps you have done everything that the Lord requires of you but still are not welcomed. Maybe you were misunderstood in an area, or you have had a falling out with a good friend.

Jesus knows all about the pain we feel when we are hurt by the actions of others. In all that He is, He is able to sympathize with our griefs.  Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, The Alpha and Omega, Bright Morning Star, Rose of Sharon, Bread of life and so much more. He is the very essence of life. All things that were made were made by Him and for Him.

Jesus has experienced the greatest rejection of man, suffered a humiliating death, one fit for a criminal on the cross. He was betrayed by one of His disciples. And the same crowds that were moved by his love, grace, compassion, and healing power were the ones shouting crucify Him. No wonder the Prophet Isaiah called him a man of sorrows and one acquainted with grief:

He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.   Isaiah 53: 2b,3

Yet, in all of this, we should know that Christ can sympathize when we are hurt and rejected even by things that may seem small in comparison of who HE is. We do not have a Savior who’s isolated in heaven with no idea of what it feels like to have human struggles. No, our Lord left the glories of heaven behind and He temporarily gave up the use of some of His attributes, applying them only as the Father directed Him. Jesus understands precisely how we feel because He went through the same types of situations we do. Though details of our lives may not match His, the experiences and feelings are alike.

Often times when we are hurt by others our first instinct is to pull away. We stop giving love and affection to that person because we were rejected by them. We become so wrapped up in our feelings because we are offended. These types of reactions can be a genuine reaction to someone hurting us however they can also be fueled by our own feelings of inadequacy because we placed expectations on people that they just could not meet. Jesus never allowed His flesh to interact with the spirit of rejection. He never internalized rejection as an inadequacy on His part because everything Jesus did was for the Glory of His Father in heaven. Therefore His response was always to love more. He never defended His glory as a person but rather the Glory of His Father in heaven.

Jesus understands how you feel.  And He wants you to know that He is a God of acceptance. In fact He accepts you just the way you are. He wants us to quiet our hearts before Him today resting assured in the Fact that he has overcome this world with all its highs and lows.

 

 

 

 

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