Rejection, Rejection, Rejection!!
Why do we care about who accepts us?
Why do we care about who understands us?
I guess the emotionally healthy version of why we care is because…
there’s an innate desire on the inside of us to be loved, accepted, and not forgotten.
When I would try my best to remind myself of God’s acceptance of me, it didn’t feel like His acceptance was enough. Hearing the song, “Jesus Loves Me” wasn’t cutting it. LOL! I think a huge part of why it felt insufficient is because:
1. I wasn’t allowing myself to receive His acceptance.
2. I don’t think I truly valued His acceptance. OUCH…THAT HURT!
I learned a long time ago from Mike Murdock that
“WE WON’T RESPECT WHAT WE DON’T VALUE!”
So, if we don’t VALUE His acceptance of us, how can we fully ACCEPT/RECEIVE His acceptance of us?
So then, our struggle with rejection sounds more like an issue of how we measure the value of God’s acceptance, and NOT the rejection within itself. I know…that’s a lot! LOL! Additionally,
my perspective and perception about God will ultimately affect how I view what He says about me.
For instance, if I’ve always believed God to be a taskmaster, ready to strike me down for my faults, then I will most likely struggle to believe Him when I read the scripture that says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jer. 31:3), Or, “You are accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph. 1:6)
Wanna’ know something? I struggle with all of this to this day; sometimes I operate out of my soul (mind, will and emotions) to try and understand His acceptance, despite knowing it will never successfully work that way.
My brain will never comprehend how a perfect God chooses to look at an imperfect person
through the blood of His slain, but risen Son and tell me,
“I accept you, because I see My Son in you.”*
(See below.)
Every time we get rejected by people, it is always an opportunity to cling to the One who will never reject us. When we’re “left out”, it’s sometimes because God caused it. Not to hurt us, but to boomerang us to Himself, causing us to taste His acceptance and open our eyes to our worth in Him.
As mentioned earlier, there’s a healthy version of why we care, and I believe that God placed in us the need to be loved and wanted. I just think He reserved that place of “wantedness” for Himself. Sometimes He’ll show us directly, and sometimes it’ll be through God-sent people who accept us, but it is for and from Him.
As I challenge myself today, I want to challenge you to pray for His revelation of His acceptance and love, and for the grace to value it. Then, practice accepting/receiving it. I believe that as we get full of what He thinks about and sees in us, the acceptance and opinions of others will slide off right off us.
*Note: In order for God to see His Son in us, we must have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. We must be born again! When we do, He can look at us and see His Son, Jesus.