God Cares About You(r Mental Health)Sample

Rejection is one of the most painful experiences known to man—whether it’s rejection for who we are, or for something we’ve done. As Dr. Curt Thompson puts it, “Everyone is born looking for someone looking for them.” We long to experience acceptance and connection, and when we don’t find those things, it hurts.

Today’s verse is Mark 12:10, where Jesus says, “Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’”

The verse Jesus references is Psalm 118:22, and here he is applying it to himself. Jesus is intimately familiar with the experience of rejection. Isaiah 53:3 even prophetically describes Jesus as “despised and rejected by mankind.”

But today’s passage also shows us that rejection doesn’t have the last word. It didn’t for Jesus—and it doesn’t have to for us either.

In Jesus’s day and age, the construction of a new building involved carefully examining stone after stone to find one that was exactly right. That stone became the cornerstone, which was the guiding standard for what the entire building would be like. It provided stability and structural integrity for everything that came afterward.

Spiritually speaking, the stone the builders rejected—the one that didn’t look right to human beings—has become the pattern for the entire building. Jesus, the cornerstone, is God’s beloved son—and in him, we also can experience God’s love and acceptance.