Rejected and Rejoicing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

REJECTED AND REJOICING

Luke 6:20-23

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

NIV

We have come to the part where men hate us exclude and insult us and reject our name as if it is evil. Of course, we do not think they think our Christian name, such as the name our parents gave us, but we can be sure some think the name, “Believer”, “Follower of Jesus”, Jesus ‘freak”, “Christian” or whatever other titles people can put on us, as evil in their eyes. This may be because of the conviction they feel just being in our presence. We have experienced this at work, in the lunch or break room as they are chatting, or perhaps gossiping and we walk in and their voices lower so that we cannot hear them. In essence, they exclude us from their conversation because they know we would disapprove of what they are saying, or they think we are not worthy of being included because we are not qualified to know what they speak of. However, the point is that we are separate from them because they know of our faith in Jesus, and they reject us because we make them feel uncomfortable. That is sad, because we love them and want them to experience the joy we have, the comfort and peace we so enjoy in Christ. But the truth is they love the darkness they live in because it hides their sins, and their thinking maybe because they cannot see their sin, it does not exist. However, when we, the light of the world, come into their presence, they can see their sin, so they reject our light to remain in the dark. However, that does not mean we should hide our light under a barrel, no, we should always let our light shine, so all in the house can see, even is some close their eyes, or cover their eyes, because they hate our light, hating us because we are that light. But we stay firm, standing in the lampstand and shining our light brightly reflecting the glory of the Lord, and we will rejoice and be glad for that day is coming, our great reward in heaven, the day our redemption is complete, and we stand in the presence of God. There is no greater reward.