Rejecting Rejection

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John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (NIV)

Sometimes when I read verses like this it makes me cringe. There’s a part of me that wishes Jesus never said it, and I truly wonder why He had to express His message in such uncompromising absolutes.

In today’s world, people don’t like to hear this type of life or death message. They want everyone to get along, and belong to one harmonious family of humankind. There’s enough division in the world already without Christ and Christians adding to the turmoil.

But no matter what they or I think, Jesus said it, so it needs to be taken seriously.

So, according to this verse, whoever believes in Jesus has the gift of eternal life. Whoever rejects Him, in other words, whoever willfully casts Christ aside, has no joyful place in eternity. It’s blunt, inflexible, and absolutely unequivocal. Belief in Jesus gets us into heaven; rejection of Christ puts us on the outside.

So, how do we willfully reject Jesus? Well, we can do it in numerous ways. We can do it by refusing to worship or serve Him. We can fiercely argue against Him. We can change His message and turn His words into something more acceptable. We can call Him a great teacher, but not the Son of God. We can say His life was significant, but His death meant nothing. These things might satisfy our academic or lifestyle choices, but what we are doing is transforming Christ into something He wasn’t or molding Him into something that is convenient for us. And whether we like it or not, doing those things cause us to reject who He is and where we will end up in eternity.

So, let’s ask ourselves this blunt question today: do we believe in Him, or do we reject Him?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, to have faith in You is so inconvenient, unsettling, and troublesome to our lives. Your message messes up what we want to do, think and believe. You challenge our choices and interfere with our intelligence. You confront our conceptions and radically re-shape our ways. And You do this all because You love us. All because You want us to get into heaven, to be restored to God’s favor and to enjoy His kingdom forever.

Disturb our ideas about You today and keep us from rejecting You, Your message, and Your Gospel. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.