“There is a reciprocity of acceptance and love from those who know Christ, who experience Him in your life.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 11, 2022
Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me. Luke 10:16
Rejection is the risk of intimacy. The fullness of following Christ is not without risks. The risk of being misunderstood. The risk of being called a hypocrite. The risk of being labeled a religious fanatic. The risk that friends and family fade away, not inviting you any more into their life. These risks also come with the reward of seeing friends and family fall in love with Jesus. The joy of the Lord becomes your strength, as over time you consistently exercise your faith. Intimacy with Jesus and others becomes a special gift to enjoy and depend on in hard times. The rewards of intimacy far outweigh the risks. When rejection comes—we are not alone, but secure in love.
You are not alone in your experience of rejection—Jesus is with you to receive its affects and to remind you of your 100% acceptance in Him. To be with the one who was rejected for good: forgiving sins, healing sickness, casting out demons and dying a cruel death for the sins of the world—is to be comforted by His grace and love. Jesus reminded His disciples of the certainty of rejection—not if you are rejected, but when you are rejected. A feeling of shame, like you did something wrong, when in reality, your humble life exposed a proud life’s jealousy to the point of pushing back with harsh words and relational distancing. Jesus in you is the target of rejection.
“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me” (Matthew 10:40).
On the flip side there is a reciprocity of acceptance and love from those who know Christ, who experience Him in your life. This welcoming spirit Jesus describes is able to give relational space, room for imperfections coupled with forgiveness. At home in the heart is a keen sense of safety and protection, able to share vulnerably without the fear of rejection, only loving acceptance. I admire how Henri Nouwen puts pen to paper on healthy relational intimacy:
“A mature human intimacy requires a deep and profound respect for the free and empty space that needs to exist within and between partners and that asks for a continuous mutual protection and nurture. Only in this way can a relationship be lasting, precisely because mutual love is experienced as a participation in a greater and earlier love to which it points. In this way intimacy can be rich and fruitful, since it has been given carefully protected space in which to grow. This relationship no longer is a fearful clinging to each other but a free dance, allowing space in which we can move forward and backward, form constantly new patterns, and see each other as always new”.
Intimacy is the fruit of relational connectedness. As Nouwen says, “rich and fruitful…protected space in which to grow [relationships]”. Like my wife Rita’s garden plot: carefully prepared by tilling the soil, mixing together manure, mushroom compost and top soil with just the right amount of sunlight prescribed is the process of a healthy garden. In the same way relational preparation is required for healthy, vibrant intimacy—rooting out rejection. Your intimacy welcomes Jesus in.
“Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself” (Galatians 4:14).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me by faith to not fear rejection, but take the risk of intimacy, through Christ’s love and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Application
Who has let me down but needs me to take a risk of being intimate with them?
Related Reading
Exodus 16:8; Psalm 27:10; Luke 9:48; John 13:20; James 2:13
Worship Resource
CityAlight: Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
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