REASON FOR REJECTION

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.” (John 15:18-21)
 
It is not we that are being rejected… it is a rejection of the one who dwells within us: Jesus. Jesus added, “They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.” (15:21)
It is interesting to me that the text does not say, ‘Others may not like us,’ or ‘We may not fit in with the crowd,’ or ‘Maybe others won’t understand us.’ ‘If the world hates you…” is what Jesus said.

Very few of us are comfortable with rejection. We want to be liked, to fit in, be accepted and wanted. I believe that is normal social behavior. The trouble starts when the ‘way of the world’ is not the way of the Kingdom. When they conflict… there is Reason for Rejection.

“I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” Jesus