Daily devotion – When you have been rejected.
When We Feel Like Giving Up
There are times when we come close to throwing in the towel. Doors don’t open. We seem to make no headway with unsaved loved ones. At times it even feels as though we are taking steps backwards instead of forwards.
Yet our heart’s desire should always be aligned with our Lord’s heart, for He desires all people to come to salvation.
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
We may come away from a visit, a conversation, or an outreach feeling discouraged because everything seemed to fall flat. We tell ourselves, “Why did I bother? It’s no use. I’m wasting my time.” Hope begins to fade, and we are tempted to give up.
But thank God for that wonderful word “but” in Scripture.
The first part of this verse reminds us that the Lord is not slack. BUT – He is longsuffering. If this is the heart of our Lord, then who are we to think or act differently? If He patiently continues to pursue lost sinners, then we too must patiently continue to love, pray, and witness.
It has never been easy. Even during our Lord’s earthly ministry, not everyone believed. Many rejected His teaching, walked away, or even sought to kill Him. The Apostle Paul also experienced rejection in city after city. Yet neither Jesus nor Paul gave up.
We need to remember that we are engaged in the greatest battle of all—the battle for the eternal souls of men and women.
So, while we still have breath, let us not quit. Let us not cease reaching out. Instead, with the same compassion and persistence that our Lord has shown us, let us continue to share His love with those who reject us, mock us, or simply seem uninterested.
Never forget that we once walked the same road. We too were sinners in need of God’s grace.
Jesus continued all the way to the cross, even though many of His own people failed to recognise Him as their promised Messiah. The crowds who welcomed Him into Jerusalem would soon reject Him. Yet on Calvary He willingly hung as the Lamb of God, bearing the judgment for the very people who had rejected Him.
Then, only weeks later, something remarkable happened.
Peter stood and preached to many of those same people, and the Holy Spirit convicted their hearts.
Acts 2:36–37
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
The very people who had cried, “Crucify Him!” were now convicted by the Holy Spirit and called upon the name of the Lord.
What a reminder never to lose hope.
The person who rejects Christ today may become His faithful disciple tomorrow. The loved one who seems hardened today may one day be wonderfully transformed by the grace of God.
So let us continue. Let us pray again. Let us visit again. Let us share the gospel again.
For God has not given up on this world, and neither should we.