FEELING REJECTED

By Rev. Johnny Lee Clary

I saw a bumper sticker the other day and it said, “Be Kind To Nerds: You Will Probably End Up Working For One!” You may not remember the nerd you used to bully and pick on in school, but he will remember you if you ever apply for a job at the corporation that he ends up owning or managing. It is a fact of life that sometimes the nerdiest guy in school ends up becoming a successful corporation president or owner. It is also a fact that the girl who was considered a dork and was picked on by the good looking “mean girls” who ruled the school, will probably end up becoming a high class success and have beauty treatments that transforms her into a model-type beauty queen while the mean girls become chubby soccer moms.

As you go through life you will encounter people that the in-crowd labeled as losers and totally rejected but they end up becoming extremely successful.

Jesus was sort of like that. Psalm 118:22 talks about “the stone that the builders rejected.” That is Jesus. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day labeled him as a troublemaker and even blasphemed his works attributing them to Satan. They would not believe that He was who He said He was and sought to kill Him. But Jesus was the real deal! The church leaders of His day thought He was just an old chunk of coal, but the truth was Jesus was the purest, most sparkling, highest grade diamond that ever existed.

You may have been rejected at school, at home, by a sports team, by someone you liked, by an “in-crowd” or even by a church group. Maybe they made you feel like an old chunk of coal, instead of a sparkling diamond. If that is the case I say to you, don’t give up on God or yourself! God loves you and knows your potential. He will never leave you nor forsake you! He is waiting to mold and shape you into the shiny new diamond that He knows you can be. You have to trust Him!