It had been a fun flight to New Zealand’s south island, but now, our very first full day, the first problem pushed up its ugly head. I had left my printed itinerary at home by mistake. Because of the numerous emails I had printed up before leaving home, we would be okay as long as we were on the south island, but as soon as we took the plane to the north island, I wouldn’t have a clue where we would be residing, when the attractions I had reserved began, etc.

Luckily I had saved a copy of our expedition on a USB key, and our first hostess was very happy to help us. She tried to open the word document, but it was saved in the 2007 format, and she only had the 2003 format. When her computer rejected the file, she tried to change the file extensions. “Don’t worry!” She said. “I have a degree in Computer Science!”

Once the extensions were changed, the document did open. But its contents only showed up in garbled letters and numbers. Later, at an internet café, I tried to change the extensions back to the 2007 format, but the document was corrupted beyond repair.

How often don’t we, like that word document, find ourselves in similar situations? Eager to please, we find ourselves utterly rejected. Ouch that hurts! It not only bruises our ego, but it leaves deep scars in our own personality as well!

During such times, temptation looms. Our need for comfort is so strong that we often find ourselves glaring right into our pet sins. And why not? We have no where else to turn, and there’s that little sin, promising immediate satisfaction and acceptance! Once given in to, we may be temporarily satisfied, but then the realization of what we’ve done settles in, and we find ourselves completely rejected by our own spirit. We end up filled with disgust, and not only rejected, but possibly corrupted beyond imagination.

That longing for acceptance, those desires for intimacy (which, by the way, are some of our core basic needs), often lead us to unforeseen rejection. If unprepared for it, we will be on the devil’s ground, where his snare to total rejection will be set.

What should we do when rejected? It’s easy to fall back into the talons of our pet sins, but what should we do instead?

It’s then that we should keep still and ponder how Jesus faced rejection.

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31NIV)

Although it may not seem like it at the moment, whatever it is we face is really child’s play compared to what Jesus endured! Instead of fearing rejection however, Jesus embraced it, knowing full well that during His visit on our planet, rejection would be His norm. But He didn’t go in unarmed. While here on Earth, Jesus spent long periods of time in contact with the One who would encourage Him, our own Heavenly Father! (See Matthew 26: 36-46)

Those of us who don’t follow His example are heading for disaster: “Fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” (1 Tim 1:1819 NIV)
We need to remember that just like Jesus, we will be rejected by men more times than not. But this doesn’t mean God has rejected us. How could He?  He has chosen us and we are precious to him! God Himself has accepted us with arms opened wide! Why feel deflated if mere men don’t appreciate us?

“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him.” (1 Peter 2:4 NIV)

But just as God has chosen us, and Jesus experienced utter rejection while on earth, we are guaranteed “help in our time of need”. Jesus knows what we are going through, and in the face of rejection by mere mankind, He will give us the assurance that we are not alone: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16 NIV)

“Rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him” should become our motto. We have nothing to fear! Instead the evil one should be trembling BECAUSE we have no fear through the One who has accepted us from on high!

P. S. To be honest, I had no idea how to get out of the mess I created by leaving the itinerary at home. But my beloved Heavenly Father inspired me with the solution: At the end of our trip on the south island, our host kindly let us use her computer, where through Gmail, I was able to retrieve all the information needed for our next trek to the north island.

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Fearless Victory!” devotional series, please click here.)