Your Daily Devotional for August 13, 2006

 

August 13, 2006

 

Rejected on Earth, Accepted in Heaven

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

 

John 1:10-11

 

As we come to the Word of God today, let’s think about Christ’s descent to this earth. Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of the world, yet the Jewish culture and religion denied that He was God.

 

They acknowledged that Christ knew a lot about God, but they said that He was just a great teacher. How sad! Jesus came to His chosen people, and they didn’t even recognize that He was the One for whom they had waited! He was the One that they had been worshipping their whole lives!

 

The Jewish leaders did not want to believe that Christ was the Son of God because they didn’t want their influence and prestige to be lost to this carpenter from Galilee. The people followed and respected these men of the temple. They were very influential in their city and state governments.

 

Just as the world did not receive Christ, they will not receive us. If the people who were waiting for Christ rejected Him, how much more do you think they will reject us as Christians! Friend, the world will not like you if you are a Christian and living like one. When we try to live for God and tell others of His gift for them, they will reject us. We need to pray every morning that God would give us strength to proclaim His truth even when we are rejected.

 

G. Campbell Morgan was one of 150 young men who sought entrance to the Wesleyan ministry in 1888. He passed the doctrinal examinations, but then faced the trial sermon. In a cavernous auditorium that could seat more than 1,000 sat three ministers and 75 others who came to listen.

 

When Morgan stepped to the pulpit, the vast room and the searching, critical eyes caught him up short. Two weeks later Morgan’s name appeared among the 105 rejected for the ministry that year.

 

Jill Morgan, his daughter-in-law, wrote in her book, A Man of the Word, “He wired to his father the one word, ‘Rejected,’ and sat down to write in his diary: ‘Very dark everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.’ Quickly came the reply: ‘Rejected on earth. Accepted in Heaven. Dad.’”

 

In later years, Morgan said, “God said to me, in the weeks of loneliness and darkness that followed, ‘I want you to cease making plans for yourself, and let Me plan your life.’”

Rejection is rarely permanent, as Morgan went on to prove.

 

Friend, anything moving forward for God will face opposition. No one looks forward to it, but we can use it to help us. If you are being rejected and despised by the world, then you must be proclaiming His word! It must be evident that you are a Christian! If you are not, then you need to re-evaluate your commitment to Christ. Are you fully surrendered to His will? Are you proclaiming His Word to others? Do not be discouraged when the world rejects you, one day we will be accepted in Heaven forever.

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