Rejected for Living in Sin (Part Two)
Sin is a strange and deceptive thing. We live in a world that doesn’t just tolerate sin; it celebrates it. Lust, greed, and envy are splashed across every billboard and pumped through every television screen. The world invites everyone to the party, promising that you can live however you want without any consequences.
But here is the catch: Sin is only “fun” while you have something to give it. The world loves a sinner as long as they have money, health, or a reputation to burn. But once sin takes you to its natural conclusion, destruction, the world is the first to turn its back on you.
We see this every day. The “high roller” is popular until he gambles his last dime; then he’s a nuisance. The “life of the party” is a friend until the alcohol takes over and he can’t control his life anymore; then he’s just a drunk left to die lonely.
The Bible warns us about this temporary high:
Hebrews 11:25, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”
Sin is fun for a season, but seasons always end. And when they do, you’re left with the bill.
The Woman Who Was Twice Rejected
This is exactly where we find the woman at the well in John 4. She was a woman who had tried to find satisfaction in relationships, having had five husbands, and the man she was currently living with wasn’t even her husband.
She was living in a desert of rejection. First, she was rejected by the “religious” world. The Jews had rejected the Samaritans for centuries, looking down on them as “half-breeds” and spiritual outcasts. But it went deeper than that.
This woman was even rejected by her own people, the Samaritans.
We know this because she was at the well at the “sixth hour” or midday. In that heat, no one went to the well unless they were trying to avoid someone. She wasn’t just there to get water; she was there because she couldn’t stand the whispers and the cold shoulders of the other women in town. She had partaken in sin, and now she was paying the cost of total isolation.
The Divine Appointment
It was in this exact moment, when there was nobody else around and even the disciples had been sent away to buy meat, that Jesus showed up.
I can only imagine what the “social media” of that day would have said. “Why is Jesus talking to HER? Doesn’t He know her reputation? Doesn’t He know she’s been through five marriages? It’s bad for His brand!”
The world had given up on her. Her neighbors had given up on her. Even her own heart had probably given up. But that is exactly when Jesus is the strongest. He didn’t wait for her to get “respectable” again. He met her right in the middle of her self created mess. Right there at the well, Jesus met her and changed her life forever!
I think of my own life when I read this. There was a time when I had burnt every bridge I had. I had my fun with sin as a teenager, but eventually, sin had its way with me. When the “season” of pleasure ended, I found myself in a place where I had nothing left and nowhere to turn.
It was in that wreckage that I found Jesus. Or rather, that Jesus found me.
If you are at the well at noon today, hiding from the world and feeling the weight of your choices, take heart. The world may have walked out on you, but that just means the room is clear for Jesus to walk in. He doesn’t need your reputation or your money; He just wants your soul.
He specializes in Samaritans. He specializes in outcasts. And He specializes in people who have nothing left but Him.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait for the world to let you back in before you can talk to God. I know this because of where the Lord found me. I wasn’t in a church or a front row pew; I was sitting alone in a jail cell when the weight of my sin finally became too heavy to carry.
In that moment of total isolation, I stopped hiding and I called upon the Lord for salvation. He didn’t just give me a second chance; He immediately changed my life, my heart, and my desires from the inside out. He took a young man who was broken and rejected and made me a new creature. He can do the exact same thing for you right now, no matter where you are or what you’ve done. If you will stop running and turn to Him, He will save your soul today and give you a home in heaven.
Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
