Despised and rejected.

Isaiah 53:3
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (NIV)

God is love and Jesus is love so Jesus loved perfectly, but still, He was despised and rejected.

Have you ever loved someone, only wanting to do good for them and their response is rejection? How is it that the love of God could produce such vehement anger that people would choose Barabbas over Jesus? He has taught people a better way, healed people, fed them, and loved them. And they hated Him all the more.

The fact that God is love means that God is always working toward what is the absolute best for us. But the sinful nature has blinded us to what is best. In our natural, sinful state, there are scales on our eyes keeping us from seeing what is best when it rests on the other side of something we don’t want.

Love calls us to live healthily, but this requires discipline to not eat the whole carton of Blue Bell ice cream. Love calls us to a life of forgiveness, but this means letting go of our desire to see those who hurt us get what they deserve. Love calls us to give our money away to help others, but this means a lesser car or home. It means not spending so much on our own pleasure.

Love disapproves of selfish desires for immediate gratification and calls us to the highest life of generosity, hospitality, forgiveness, and love for our neighbor even if, in our eyes, they have done nothing to earn our love. The sinful nature sees no value in expressions of love without reciprocity. True love unmasks the deceptive heart. Those who can see that God’s way is best will humble themselves and be grateful for the love you gave illuminating a better path. But those who fixate on immediate gratification will despise and reject anyone whose behavior draws attention to their stubborn avarice.

Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher, but His determination to always do what was best for others was a stark contrast to the other religious leaders of His time. Their hypocrisy was unmasked. And they hated him for this. And some will do the same to us even as we are loving them.

Lord, help me to know that when I love purely but they still reject me, that it is not me they reject, but you. Help me to not be crushed nor offended, but to keep loving anyway. Amen.

Sign up for daily devotions

Read more daily devotions

Sign up for counseling/spiritual direction