“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him”. (John 1:10–11)
Some reject Jesus because they misunderstand who He is and His mission. Some also reject Jesus simply because they care more about praise from people than praise from God.
The Jews desire a political messiah that will destroy their enemies and save them from Roman domination. Instead, God gave them a peaceful Messiah to save them from sin and bring them closer to God. Given this, they rejected Jesus because this is not what they expect from God.
Just like the Jews, sometimes we also reject God because the way we EXPECT Him to answer our prayers is not the way it turns out to be. Take for example; – You pray that God gives you a rich husband but He brings you a humble but poor one.
You pray that He gives you a job with a fat salary. Instead, He gives you the one that will be enough for you.
You pray to be put in a higher position but He gives you one that will not give you much trouble. He even goes further to surround you with people who will deeply love you.
Sometimes, we reject the opportunities God offer because they are far from our expectations. And today, Jesus says to us,” How l wish you recognize the things that would have given you peace”.
God is more interested in bringing us closer to Him and giving us peace. He would not want anything that would be a stumbling block to this.
Today many have lost opportunities to be better because what was presented to them is far from what they want. When we reject God’s opportunities for us, we plunge ourselves into a series of problems. In Genesis 18, Abraham saw an opportunity to help. He did not think twice in doing that and that single gesture became a blessing to Him. The Israelites were visited by God but they were spiritually blind to recognize such a divine visitation in the person of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes after we pray and fast that God comes to our aid, He brings people to our path to be of good help to achieve our life dreams, but we end up fighting and implicating them. Sometimes we pray that God helps us and instead, He sends us someone to help. And what do we do? we reject the offer because it is not what we want.
Come to think of it, how many times have you prayed and God inspires you to do something? but you reject it like the Israelites and await when God will come down from Heaven and do it. God can visit you through the poor, the orphans, and the needy but we become blind not to discern what is happening at that moment.
Just as people rejected Jesus while He walked this earth, people still reject Him today. Jesus weeps at our indifference. He weeps at our discernment. He weeps at our lack of faith and our inability to pay attention to Him. When we reject God, we reject peace, salvation, and blessings, etc. But the choice is yours — you don’t have to reject Him. So, why not accept whatever God gives you?
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