As a child, you were called some derogatory names. As a teenager, you were the last one chosen for sports teams. As an adult, you were bypassed in job promotions.
You and I have struggled with rejection.
Starting kindergarten in September at age four didn't help me -- I didn't turn five until Decemer 24 -- so I was always the youngest in school while growing up. And I never did turn out very big and tall either. LOL! So I was always the smallest kid in the classroom too (all except for one kid that had a rare disease and he got lots of attention because of that!).
Only in college did a friend point out that I was "small but powerful like a stick of dynamite!" That helped!
Being around others who are richer, smarter, more athletic, more popular can make us feel rejected and undesireable and alone.
The good news is this: Jesus understands. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3). He was "the stone the builders rejected" (Matthew 21:42).
Jesus knows what rejection feels like -- to be overlooked, to be mistreated, to be disdained. He comes alongside us to stand with us in our pains, heal our inner wounds, and transform our very souls.
And the Lord Jesus will work powerfully within us by his Holy Spirit and through the Word of God.
- Our feelings of rejection are dismantled by his consistent and unfailing acceptance of us as those created in the image of God.
- The lies we have told ourselves are dismissed by the truth of who we really are in Christ.
- The false accusations and constant belittling from the tempter are silenced by the overcoming authority Christ gives to us.
I am loved by God, accepted by Christ, welcomed by the Holy Spirit. I am a new creation Christ. So are you.
Let God love you. Receive his embrace. Stand in his enabling.
