Seeing the value in the rejected

I was talking recently with a lady who was expressing great concern for her adult son who had lost his job a few months ago.  Despite his best efforts, he had not been able to obtain employment elsewhere.  He was beginning to feel overwhelmed with a lack of self-worth and a loss of identity.  A number of his former friends had drifted away, and he was feeling the isolation of his desperate situation.

I am aware of another situation where a young girl had been denied a place in any of the 3 schools to which she applied for high school.  I would imagine that this is not an isolated example, and the feeling of rejection in such a situation can have a seriously detrimental effect on a young person at a vulnerable and impressionable time of life.

I am reminded of my own school days, when a games teacher might choose two people to be team captains and invite them to select the members of their teams.  One by one the team members are chosen; it was hard for those who were left right to the end, and I'm sure they must have felt unwanted and embarrassed.

The sad reality is that we live in a society and a world where so many people have little or no sense of self-worth, and feel isolated and unwanted.  We live in a society were certain individuals and groups are often marginalised and looked down on.  The feeling of rejection must be really tough to take.

A few weeks ago, Sue and I spent a few days in Scarborough.  On one of those days we visited the Market Vaults (the area beneath the town indoor market, where there are a number of shops).  Outside one of the shops was an old spiral coat hanger, which presumably at one time had been used by a retailer.  It was showing signs of its age, and was obviously no longer wanted.  It had been rejected as being past the stage of being useful, and had been left outside the shop with a price tag of £5 if anyone would take it away!  To be honest, I had passed it by without giving it any attention, but Sue had spotted it and had immediately saw it as a potentially useful and valuable object.

To cut a long story short, we paid the fiver and brought it home.  It's now serving a really useful purpose in our back garden as something on which to fix our hanging baskets - a piece of contemporary garden furniture!

For most people, the hanger was worthless and unwanted.  But Sue saw in it something of value.  The message of the Bible is that when God looks at every human being he sees a person who is of immense value.  In fact we are of such worth to God that he was even willing to give us own Son for us!  However the world regards us, or even however we see ourselves, God loves us with an eternal love.  You and I are precious to God - we are never rejects in his sight!