Rejection

Have you ever felt rejected by someone you love and respected?  Do you ever feel worthless, depressed or discouraged?

There are things in this life that we all live with on a daily basis that we have to overcome. Everybody in this life has experienced the painful sting of REJECTION. It’s everywhere! Some us have dealt with a little of it and some of us a lot through our lives.  Some have experienced huge amounts of it because of abuse, neglect, abandonment or death. How do you define REJECTION? It is not being chosen; not being wanted or accepted. It is being pushed away; not treated with love. There is shame and low self esteem attached; a feeling of worthlessness, depression and discouragement. It starts with some people in school. They’re the last to be chosen at recess or no one wants to sit with them at lunch or classmates make fun of them. Kids have the innate ability to find the flaw in their peers and can use cruel and thoughtless words.  Unless children are raised with the love of God and are taught to be kind to their classmates then there can be a lot of meanness and bullying. It goes back to the parents in this case.  Parents are the most influential people in a child’s life. If a parent has a lack of wisdom and says negative and demeaning things to a child (like “you’ll never amount to anything”, “you always mess things up”, “why can’t you be like your brother/sister?”) this cause a root of rejection to grow in that child’s life. Those that are abused will abuse. Those that are cursed at will curse. Those that are judged harshly will be critical and judgmental of others. The innocent suffer for the guilty.  This is why it is so important that we as parents are grounded in the word of God so that we know how to parent our children in a Godly way without planting a root of rejection in their hearts.

Did Jesus face rejection?

It is not accident that “rejection” is used in Isaiah 53:3…“He is despised and REJECTED of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was DESPISED, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God & afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.”  Notice that to be despised is mentioned TWICE. Being despised is the ultimate rejection! Even though Jesus was perfect and sinless he was rejected and despised  He bore OUR rejection!  He was despised and afflicted by God and men to allow Him to pay for our sins of humanity. Jesus laid down his life and suffered them so you and I wouldn’t have to suffer them in our lives. To Jesus it was a JOY to do that for us! What a Savior!

Do you have shame, guilt and sorrow in your life?

Shame, like mold, grows in the dark. It devastates you. It shuts you down. Children that are victims of sexual abuse suffer from shame and carry it into adulthood even though they were an innocent child. Why? Most of the time the abuser tells them it is their fault which is a total lie. Then the devil amplifies that message and tells them they are worthless and then the human flesh validates the lie and they start thinking…“maybe I did deserve it.”  It’s called “believing a heart lie”. The good news is that you can replace those heart lies through the truth of God’s word. You’ve got to get rid of these heart lies because they will hold you back. The root of shame is rejection. Shame is one of the results of rejection. The good news today my friend is that Jesus took your rejection! You don’t have to accept the rejection, the hurt and the anger! You’re free of it! You must know who you are in Christ and one of the benefits of knowing who you are is knowing what Jesus did for you on the cross. You must stand your ground with the devil! Let him know that you know WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST and this truth has set you free from that pack of lies!  Your worth is in Christ and that is something that NO ONE can ever take from you! When Satan brings out his flipchart of lies you must NOT RECEIVE them and STAND firmly on God’s truth! This revelation will set you FREE! Jesus 13:8 promises us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. His principles always work!  Once you have been delivered from something you have the awesome opportunity to help others overcome it and be freed from it. The best people to minister to prison inmates are former inmates who have been delivered.  You can be delivered from rejection and then help others do the same thing! One out of every two people on the planet have been abused in some way and this is why it is so important to understand how to be free from it.

How do you recognize rejection in other people? Rejection, if it isn’t healed, it always acts out. It rejects other people.  Sometimes, it also manifests in a cover that looks like the opposite in an arrogant, conceited, over confident and superior way. People with roots of rejection usually put other people down because they don’t feel good about themselves. Sarcasm can be a big red flag of rejection. When you know and recognize the signs you can have compassion for them and understand why they act the way they do. You can them refuse to take their rejection into your heart from them. Instead of getting offended and hurt you can show them love and compassion even when they’re being mean to you and this could lead to their freedom. Just listen closely to their words and you will usually be able to hear something that reveals they have rejection from their childhood. This takes the sting out of it because this revelation allows you to not accept the pain and hurt from their words. Having a 12 year old daughter in middle school we have this discussion quite often.  Sometimes I will pick her up from school and she will have a frown on her face and begin to tell me how someone hurt her feelings. I explain to her this concept of rejection and that “hurting people hurt people.” Children that know who they are in Christ are positive and uplifting and do not say hurtful things. By understanding this, she can then have compassion for this child and show them love. I’ve taught my girls that when anyone (friend, family member, teacher, coach, etc) says anything to them that does NOT align with what God says about them they are to say…“I don’t receive that”! Just because another person spews words out of their mouth doesn’t mean you have to receive them or accept them as truth. They can’t hurt you as long as you don’t receive them into your heart. This is why God tells us to guard our hearts.  If we allow lies to penetrate our hearts we develop heart wounds that we carry into adulthood and  negatively affect our relationships and the rest of our lives. Likewise, it is also important that we realize the power of our own words and always strive to lift people up. When we gossip, say offensive words to others these also go into our hearts and cause wounds. We teach our girls that words are powerful and they have the power to lift up or tear down. If we use them to tear others down we are also tearing ourselves down, but if we use them to lift others up we are also lifting ourselves up. Each day we need to walk in forgiveness and let the love of God flow.

The root of rejection also manifests itself through our physical bodies. Many people are overweight today because they have a root of rejection in their lives. They are trying to feel a void and the food is a comfort that tries to feel that void.  It’s a destructive cycle because the weight generates rejection and self hate and ridicule from others. It’s an area we need to have a great deal of compassion for.  We all feel rejected sometime in our lives.  It comes with sinful humanity. You don’t deserve the rejection and Jesus provided a way out for YOU!  Jesus was despised and hated by men so you don’t have to feel the sting of it. Christ has freed you from it. God has made you beautiful and worthy and He loves YOU so very much!

Who was Jesus rejected by and how does that impact our lives today?

Jesus took rejection for YOU! He looked forward to every generation and made a way out of the horrible feelings of rejection and insecurity. Jesus experienced rejection on EVERY level a person could experience.  He died to free us from the effects of sin and one of those is rejection.  Jesus was rejected four different ways.  First, he was rejected by two in his inner circle…Judas and Peter.  Peter was the one who walked on water.  In Luke 22:55-62 we see Peter denies knowing Jesus three times.  This represents to us that many times rejection will come through the people closest to us (family, close friends). Jesus took that!

It was purposed for Him to take that rejection so you and I don’t have to! In Luke 23:2 we see the next level of rejection He took for all of humanity. The Pharisees (leaders of the Jews) turned on Jesus and they are the ones who incited the crucifixion. They rejected Him even though he was their leader.  Jesus took rejection from the leadership of that day so we don’t have to!  Leaders may represent your boss at work, your teacher, coach or people in authority over you. The next level of rejection is in Luke 23:18-21. Jesus was rejected by the multitudes of people that joined in with the Pharisees…some of which I’m sure he had healed. They turned their back on Him and chose to release Barabbas (a murderer) instead. The multitudes to you and I represent the people we know and come into contact with everyday…(such as coworkers, neighbors). So here we have His inner circle, the leaders of the day (both secular and spiritual) and the multitude of people (those people around him) rejecting him.  He took rejection from all of these for us so we don’t have to experience the sting of it! The fourth and final rejection was the worst of all and the greatest for us. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, for the very first time EVER, He experienced the rejection of God the Father. Because our God is a Holy God He had to turn His back in that moment on His son because He could not look on sin.  He had never broken fellowship with His Father and this was the first time this unity was ever broken!  Jesus felt that separation SO deeply! That is when Jesus cried out…“Father, father why have you forsaken me?” Although he understood it, it brought such great anguish to him. His only nourishment and strength had come from God while he was on this earth. His roots of life were connected with His Heavenly Father. His only sustenance came from His father. Only his relationship with His heavenly father gave him nourishment and strength. His supply line in that moment was cut off and it hurt so very deeply.

What a wonderful victory that Jesus has accomplished for us!  He took ALL of that rejection for us. This beautiful sacrifice of love reconciled us back to God the Father. YOU ARE FREE my friend.  Receive the freedom from rejection that Jesus died to give you.

It has NO power over you. Jesus released you from that bondage and you are FREE from it. Choose to forgive yourself, forgive others and RECEIVE the cleaning power of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Sherry :-)

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