Pastor's Corner

Fifteen-year-old Michael wanted to be a professional basketball player but he was cut from his high school basketball team. They said he had a "lack of skill." Though the rejection stung, he kept at it and became much more than a capable basketball player. He ended up playing in 14 NBA All-Star games. He also won six NBA titles. He is known to us as Michael Jordan.

There are times when we have been rejected because we don't meet some specific requirement or live up to others' expectations. We may not be the most skillful or impressive. We may be treated with contempt or ridicule. Yet God loves the lowly, the rejected and despised. He loves you and me. The Bible describes Jesus in this way: "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and acquainted with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem" Is. 53:3.

Jesus personally knows the pain of rejection. He welcomes to Himself those who turn to Him in faith and repentance. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him" Jn. 1:10.

Jesus Christ identifies with the rejected and despised but He doesn't leave them there. He embraces us and lifts us into salvation. Our feet are placed on a solid foundation. We are made God's very own children. We are brought into the embrace of His everlasting love. "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position" James 1:8.

We've been lifted to the high position of being "in Christ."

Pastor Greg Brownell

Dayton United Brethren Church