Sunday 30 June 2024
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Those whose hearts are open will welcome your witness and those whose hearts are pushing God away will reject your witness!
Jesus said these words to 72 people that he had trained and was sending out ahead of him in groups of two to the places he was going to visit. He wanted them to know ahead of time that some people would accept their witness and others would reject it…even if they did everything right. I hope you hear him sharing this understanding with you today, too.
There will be people in your life that you pray for and build relationships with and share Christ with, but their hearts are not open to God and in the end, they may reject you along with Christ. There will be others, often ones you least expect, who you reach out to hesitantly, but you find that their hearts are ready to talk about God and how he can become a part of their lives.
Even as you start on the journey of learning to live as a witness, Jesus wants you to know and recognize this. People’s rejection or acceptance of your witness will be the expression of their heart’s response to him.
After experiencing both kinds of response to their witness, the next verse describes their perspective: “The 72 returned with joy….” The only way to avoid the rejection is to also avoid the joy of being a witness to those whose hearts are ready.
How does this verse today encourage you to speak up?
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