Monday September 7
ignoring discouraging words
Many people are familiar with the book Gone with the Wind, and even more have viewed the movie adaptation that was filmed in 1939 starring famous Hollywood actor Clark Gable. But what many people don’t realize is that the novel written by Margaret Mitchell was rejected 38 times by publishers before finally being accepted. It went on to sell 30 million copies. What if Margaret Mitchell had given up after her 38th rejection, as most of us probably would have done?
Bartimaeus, the blind man in Mark 10, faced a similar situation. He had been rebuked and rejected by the crowd—not because he had done anything wrong or because of his sin, but merely because those around him were annoyed by his presence and his clamor (v.48). They wanted him to be silent.
A distraction to the crowd, they gave him a rebuke, but not in the godly sense. Their words were pure discouragement. They were negative. Bartimaeus must have recognized the nature of their criticism, because he ignored it and continued to cry out to Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He finally attracted Jesus’ attention and received healing at the work of His hands (v.52).
Similarly, we must be able to discern between godly rebuke, which is important and life-giving to us, and ungodly discouraging words. There are times when someone is giving us hard words for our good, and we need to listen to what they’re saying (Matthew 18:15-17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). But there are other times when we face discouragement or lies from Satan or from other people. During those times, we need to recognize the lies for what they are and cry out to Jesus all the louder. He loves and welcomes even when others reject us. —Peter Chin
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Mark 10:46-52 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v.48).
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Read Mark 10:35-45 for the account of the truly godly and necessary rebuke of James and John.
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When have you received a godly rebuke that helped you to grow? How did you know that it reflected God’s wisdom?
