No Man is Accepted Until He Has Been Rejected

Dr. J. Gregory Mantle tells of a minister friend whose congregation always refused to accept his messages which were Biblically sound. The choir made things worse and he asked the choir to resign. The choir did and persuaded the congregation from taking part in singing on the following Sunday. This continued for many Sundays. One day, sitting dejected on a park bench, the pastor saw a torn newspaper flapping on the ground. It had a message: No man is ever fully accepted until he has, first of all, been utterly rejected. He was comforted, he was rejected for Christ’s sake. The recognition of this fact was the beginning of a most fruitful ministry. (Encyclopedia of Illustrations - #4249).