Rejecting Rejection

Have you ever felt like you just don't measure up?  That you're not enough?  That you can't quite make the cut?  Ever felt isolated, dejected, rejected, less than or marginalized?  Or even now, do you feel like an impostor in your job or a fake while chasing your passion?   

Yeah, me, too.​

If we boil it all down, at base, we will land somewhere near FEAR.  Fear of failure, fear of exposure, fear of rejection, fear of being alone and left out, fear of not being wanted, fear of not being enough.

Fortunately, Jesus Christ models for us the behavior we are to take as we journey in this life when we meet negative, defeating resistance that may lead to despair and discouragement. 

​It is a path of forgiveness.  And this path must be wide for most of us because we've been hurt quite a bit along the way.  

In His lifetime, Jesus was rejected, alienated, and opposed by 

• his family
• his disciples (closest friends)
• religious leaders and elders
• the leading priests and teachers of the law
• the "generation" of people 
• the Jews

How did He handle all of this?  Is there something that we can learn from Jesus that can help us respond to others when we personally feel this type of social, professional, and conditional rejection?   

​In other words, is there a cure for those times when folks give us a slap in the face?

The formula is fairly straight forward:  We reject rejection with the power of FORGIVENESS.

In the next couple of blog posts, we will unpack a few do's and don'ts about handling rejection.  We will examine how to replace a bitter root in our hearts with one of love so we can leave rejection and its stronghold far behind us once and for all!

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Something to ponder:  What does physical health have to do with FORGIVENESS?  CLICK HERE to read an article published by Johns Hopkins Medicine about the positive impact on your physical health and well-being
​when you practice forgiving others. 

Aren't you GRATEFUL that you can make emotional decisions that impact your body (literally)!?!

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9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 
15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
--Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew, Ch. 6