Don't Fear the Dark: Part 4

Dan Stanford
Oct 17
2 min read

When You Feel Like Candy Corn 

Be honest: candy corn—love it or “melted traffic cones”? It’s one of the most polarizing candies on earth. Some states cheer it on; others form support groups to avoid it. Either way, candy corn knows rejection. So do we.

Jesus did too. John writes, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). That stings. One Hebrew word for rejection, zanach, literally means “to stink.” When people pass us by, we start doing the sniff test—Is it my breath? My shoes? Rejection tempts us to believe something is wrong with us, instead of recognizing something might be wrong in them.

Scripture keeps reframing the story. David says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me” (Psalm 27:10). Isaiah foresaw Jesus as “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53:3), and yet the “stone the builders rejected” became the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22; Mark 12:10). Translation: humans can mislabel value—but God never does.

Here’s the good news you can hold like a porch light in October: “Do not fear… I have redeemed you… you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

Read that again: You. Are. Mine. Your worth isn’t set by the last “no,” the cold shoulder, or the group chat that forgot you. Your worth is set by the cross—God’s proof tag that says “paid in full.”

A simple practice this week: when a memory of rejection pops up, place your hand over your heart and say out loud, “Rejected by some, accepted by the One. I belong to Jesus.” Then text someone who might feel left out and invite them in. Rejected people become radiant people when they start reflecting the One who received them first.

Prayer: Jesus, when the dark whispers “you don’t belong,” speak louder: “You are mine.” Help me carry Your welcome to someone else today. Amen.

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When You Feel Like Candy Corn  Be honest: candy corn—love it or “melted traffic cones”? It’s one of the most polarizing candies on earth. Some states cheer it on; others form support groups to avoid it. Either way, candy corn knows rejection. So do we. Jesus did too. John writes, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). That stings. One Hebrew word for rejection, zanach, literally means “to stink.” When people pass us by, we start doing the sniff tes