If you’ve ever shared Jesus with someone and gotten rejected, you know it hurts. It’s something I’ve tried to get used to but every time it happens it makes me hurt inside.
The other day while evangelizing, my team and I walked over to this group of men sitting down together. My team split up and talked to each one individually. The man I was talking to was really cool and excited to learn about Jesus, but another man in the group was not happy to have us there. He would ask if we could read a verse to him and then he interrupt us by saying “that’s not true” or “you don’t know what you’re saying.” It’s something that is honestly a new experience for me on the mission field and I’ve had to learn a lot about how to approach sharing the gospel in those situations.
This has happened a lot here in South Africa and before my experience with the man I mentioned above, I allowed people’s words to settle in my heart and really hurt me. During my conversation with the man that hated the gospel I got reminded that Jesus was rejected and that he was hated by the world first. Remembering that truth gave me strength to not take the comments and accusations of that angry man personally and it showed me how to rest in God’s comfort in a new way.
John 15: 18-19:
“(18)If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.(19)If you belonged to the world, it would love you as it’s own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to accept you when you’re sharing his word and that’s ok. It’s ok because Jesus has been there and WILL bring comfort in those situations.
I used the phrase “sowing in hard soil” as the title to this blog because when we, as christians, spread the gospel and live as Christ lived we are sowing seeds of faith. Sometimes we get to sow in the soft soil, we get to talk with people and they fall in love with Jesus. They want to hear more and they are accepting to us. Sometimes we get to sow in the hard soil and we get rejected. The beautiful thing is that Jesus has accepted us and always will so when we feel discouraged by our circumstances or people’s lack of love and acceptance, we can just run to him.
I want to encourage anyone reading this to step into the hard things. Step into the hard conversations. Know that Jesus tells us you will get rejected and that he will be there with you through it. Remember that he has chosen us out of the world for his great love. No matter if we get rejected, no matter if we make new friends, no matter the situation, Jesus told us in Mathew 28:18 to go out and make disciples of all nations. So that is what we will do.
