July 30, 2025

What to Do When People Walk Away

They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement.
Acts 28:25

Watching people walk away from truth hurts more than physical pain. Paul had spent an entire day carefully explaining the gospel to the Jewish leaders in Rome. He had used Scripture, shared his testimony, and answered their questions with patience and love. Yet when the conversation ended, some believed but others disagreed and simply left. The sound of their footsteps walking away must have echoed in Paul's heart.

Rejection of your message often feels like rejection of you personally. When people dismiss what you're sharing about faith, it's easy to take it as a personal attack on your character or intelligence. Paul could have wondered if he said something wrong, if he wasn't persuasive enough, or if he had failed God somehow. But he understood a crucial truth that every believer must learn. People aren't rejecting you when they walk away from the gospel. They're rejecting God.

Your job is to plant and water, not to force the harvest. Paul knew that he couldn't argue someone into the kingdom of God or manipulate them into belief. His responsibility was to faithfully present the truth and let the Holy Spirit do the work of conviction and conversion. When people walked away, it didn't mean Paul had failed. It meant they weren't ready to receive what God was offering.

Even Jesus experienced people walking away from His message. In John 6, after Jesus taught about being the bread of life, many of His disciples said His teaching was too hard and stopped following Him. Jesus didn't chase after them, beg them to stay, or water down His message to make it more acceptable. He let them go and asked His twelve disciples if they wanted to leave too.

Sometimes walking away is exactly what people need to do before they can walk back to God. The very act of leaving forces them to confront what they're rejecting. It creates space for the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts without the pressure of your presence. Many people who walk away from conversations about faith find themselves thinking about those words days, months, or even years later.

Godseekers, don't let the pain of people walking away stop you from sharing truth. Their rejection doesn't reflect your worth or the value of your message. It reflects the condition of their heart and their readiness to receive what God is offering. Your faithfulness in speaking truth plants seeds that may not sprout immediately but could bloom in the right season. Keep sharing, keep loving, and trust God with the results.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, it hurts when people walk away from the truth I'm trying to share. Help me not to take their rejection personally or let it discourage me from continuing to speak Your truth in love. Remind me that my job is to be faithful in planting seeds, not in controlling the harvest. Give me wisdom to know when to speak and when to let people go. In Jesus' name, Amen.