My question to you is how do you respond to all of these things? Do you let it get you down? Do you let it discourage you from saying anything else. Or do you take it like a champ and shake it off?
There are really only two ways you can go about it. Accept the fact that whoever it was wasn't a fan of your idea or you get discouraged.
In Matthew chapter 10, there is a passage about Jesus sending out the twelve disciples. Jesus tells them to go to the lost sheep of the house and as they go, to proclaim. 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Jesus instructs them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. At the end of verse 8 Jesus says: "You received without paying; give without pay." I love that because Jesus is talking about how we received Him without any sort of pay, so when the disciples serve others, and do the work of God, they shouldn't be doing those things expecting to be paid. They should do the will of God out of the kindness of their hearts. Same with us. We should never do something good just because it looks good to other people. We should do good because that is a sign of love and in my opinion, one thing that Christians need to do more is love and show love like Jesus did. Jesus goes on to talk bout how the disciples should acquire no gold or sliver or copper for their belts, no bag for their journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his good. Jesus says that wherever the disciples go, they should find out who is worthy. As Christians I believe we need to do a better job with that as well. When we go places we get too caught up in searching for the people who look cool and who have nice things. We forget to search for the people with hearts of gold. There are lots of people out there with hearts of gold. You just have to search for them and find them. When we begin to look for the people who are worthy, we get much more fulfillment. I promise you that.
What sticks out to me more than anything from this passage is this. It's Matthew 10:14: "And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave the house or town." Jesus is telling the disciples to just shake it off. He is telling us that there will be people out there who will not receive or listen to our words. Just like I mentioned up above. How are you reacting when this happens? Are you shaking the dust off of your feet or are you fed up and frustrated.
I encourage you to remember exactly what Jesus said next time this happens... "Shake off the dust from your feet when you leave the house or town." I know that I find this very encouraging and I hope that you can as well. I just picture Jesus patting us right on the back saying that it's going to be okay. We aren't on this earth for the approval of men. We just have to shake off the dust. No matter what type of a person you are, no matter how many people like or dislike you, there will always be people who don't agree with the things you say. When that happens it's all about how we react. I like to think that Satan enjoys when we overreact to things, and that God is pleased when we shake it off. Probably because that is what he tells us to do.
I hope that this post was simple and encouraging to you. Please remember just to shake it off. Not everyone is going to agree with the things that you say. Quite frankly it doesn't matter what others think, the only thing that matters is God.
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