Daily Devotional for Wednesday, February 11

The Samaritans Rejected Jesus

“And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem,” Luke 9:53.

No one wants to feel the sting of rejection. The careers with the highest turnover rates are those which involve direct sales. Most people cannot endure the constant stream of “no’s” that it takes to get to the occasional yes. If you enter a post on Facebook and it does not receive a generous number of “likes” you feel you are being rejected and you become depressed. It has been said that the fear of rejection is worse than rejection itself. I knew of a man who I believe was truly called of God to preach, but because he felt he did poorly on his first sermon and felt rejected, he laid down his Bible and never preached again. Human nature craves affirmation and will do almost anything to secure it.

            Jesus was no stranger to the pain of rejection. In today’s passage, we read of the Samaritan village that rejected Jesus and His followers. Do you think Jesus was surprised at this animosity? Certainly, He was aware of the sharp rivalry that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans (John 4:9). However, Jesus did not limit His outreach to only those among whom He would be welcomed. Jesus made clear His mission, “For the Son of Man is come for to seek and to save that which was lost”( Luke 19:10). His burden was also His mission, the salvation of souls.

            Evangelism is fishing for men (Matthew 4:19). Sadly, most believers love to talk about fishing, but few ever get around to doing the work. Just remember, the first answer is not the final answer. It has been determined that it takes on the average, thirteen approaches with the gospel for a person to say yes to Jesus. What number rejection will you be? Two, nine, thirteen?

FINAL THOUGHT

You cannot control the number of people who accept the gospel, but you can control the number of people you tell.

John Nations