God Accepts Us
Most people will feel rejected at some time in their life. Being hurt by people close to us and being in broken relationships can make us feel unwanted and alone. The Good News is that God heals our pain and He accepts us and loves us unconditionally.
The Pain of Rejection
(3) So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
(4) Now he had to go through Samaria.
(5) So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
(6) Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
(7) When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(8) (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
(9) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
(10) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
(11) “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
(12) Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
(13) Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
(14) but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
(15) The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
(16) He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
(17) “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
(18) The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
(19) “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
(20) Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
(21) “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
(22) You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
(23) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
(24) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
(25) The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
(26) Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
(27) Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
(28) Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
(29) “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Read John 4:3-29 and answer these questions.
This woman came to the well by herself in the middle of a hot day because she was rejected in her society for getting married many times.
(7) When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(8) (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
(9) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
Why was the woman surprised by Jesus?
In life, what can happen to make people feel rejected?
What are some of the consequences of feeling rejected?
What do people do in order to be accepted by others?
How did Jesus show that He accepted the woman?
Jesus Was Rejected
Isaiah 53:3 (NIV)
(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.
1 Peter 2:4 (NIV)
(4) As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
How do we know that Jesus can understand our feelings about rejection?
How Can We Overcome Rejection?
In this story in John 4, the woman’s life was completely changed when she decided to believe what Jesus said. Let’s take these steps and apply these verses to our lives.
1. Accept God’s unconditional love –
(4) For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
(5) he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
(6) to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
2. Exchange your needs for God’s “Living Water” –
(14) but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
(15) The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
3. Rejoice that you have become God’s child! –
(6) Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “ Abba, Father.”
(7) So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Ask a Friend
- Have you ever felt rejected?
- How can you know that God accepts you?
Application
As we pray, let’s ask God to search our hearts and reveal to us any rejection that we’re holding on to and the affect that it has had on our lives. Remember that God accepts us and loves us unconditionally and he can heal us from the pain of rejection.
Prayer Model
Lord Jesus, I thank You that You love me and accept me. I give my feelings of rejection to You and ask You to heal me as I forgive those who have hurt me. Thank You that You have made me Your child.
Key Verse
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
