REJECTION PART II

"Earthly rejection, properly embraced is an opportunity to gain heavenly treasure."

"Jesus intends we turn our pain into Pearls"

"At the Master's workbench, where He forms His servants into the image of Christ, there are many tools at His disposal for fashioning character development. There is one tool which He uses in a singularly powerful way, however, to accelerate the maturity of His chosen vessels, and yes, that tool is called 'Rejection'."

"When God destines a saint for extraordinary influence in the body of Christ, He prepares him through the rejection of people... if that one is to become a compassionate servant leader..."

"How did David handle all this rejection? The evidence indicates that in the midst of these and many other rejections, David continually withdrew into the secret place and renewed his hope and confidence in God. He was able to keep perspective on all the rejections of men because he was receiving from the inside the explosive acceptance of his God. I can suppose David saying, "I can handle all this when I have God's loving acceptance."

" A substantial step toward freedom of soul is made when we are able to see God as the author of life's rejections and not men. Although [it seems that]men are dispensing the rejection, God is actually allowing it in his sovereign plan for a divine purpose. The rejection is accomplishing something very profound in our soul and spirit. If we respond properly to it, the rejection will be used of God to shape and conform us into the image of Christ. Properly embraced, ... rejection becomes a gift.

"When we feel the sting of men's rejection, as long as we perceive men as the source of rejection, we will struggle in our attitudes toward them. FREEDOM begins to unfold when we realize that God designed their rejection for our personal benefit. So instead of struggling in our heart toward those who reject us, we can give thanks to God Who allows it for a higher purpose."

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (Amplified Bible)

3For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.

4For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

5[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ,

"When you view rejection as a gift from God to keep your heart pliable, [humble] and dependent on Him, you gain a new freedom in relating to people in love [and mercy]. Even though you know people are not dependable [knowing you yourself will let others down at times] you are able give yourself to them in unqualified love, knowing that any rejection you receive from them is an opportunity for character development [if you run to your heavenly Father]

"When people reject you, but you are fueled on the inside with profound affections of you Father for you, then you're able to give yourself to your fellow man in love regardless of how he treats you... having profound faith in the grace of God at work in him or her [and yourself]."

"If we allow it, rejections can drive us into the place of finding God."

1 Timothy 1:15-16

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

1 Cor. 13:14 Love (GOD's love for us and in us) endures long and is patient and kind..."

commentary... "Love is long suffering...'It makes the mind firm, gives it power over angry passions, and furnishes it with a persevering patience, that shall rather wait and wish for the reformation of a brother than fly out in resentment of his conduct. It will put up with many slights and neglects for the person it loves, and waiting long to see the kindly effects of such patience on him."

STINKIN' THINKIN'

STINKIN' THINKIN' is not what I think about myself that gets to me & it's not what you think of me that gets to me. It's what I THINK that you are thinking about me that gets to me. its all fiction. Lies! Yet we are hurt by what we think others are thinking. Where is that coming from? Let's take a Sabbath rest from staying in our own thoughts & focus on the One whose thoughts are higher than ours, Jesus, my Redeemer!

"REJECTION: The Universal Malady

I am not writing about rejection from a position of objective aloofness. I have had to wrestle personally with processing rejection from other Christians, and have also had to face the pain of realizing that many others have felt rejected by me. When God began to teach me about rejection, He did it through both means -- through allowing me to feel rejected, and through allowing me to cause others to feel rejected through my imperfect attempts to relate to them.

When I consider those from who I have felt rejection, I can't think of a single one who purposefully intended to hurt me. And when I think of those who have felt rejected by me, I can't think of a single person what I meant to hurt. I was not malicious toward them, they were not malicious toward me. We weren't trying to hurt each other, in fact our intentions were to love one another. But rejection just seemed to happen anyways.

Sometimes we are rejected by others. And sometimes we feel rejected when in fact we were being accepted. Either way, the feelings of rejection are the result of our broken humanity, our falleness, our ineptitude at relating to one another in the perfection of Christ. Furthermore, it's possible to relate to someone absolutely perfectly - as Jesus related to the Pharisees - and have them feel rejected by you.

I began to awaken to the reality that a growing number of people in my sphere of influence have felt rejected by me. When I began to count them, I became alarmed at how large the list was! I can't think of a single instance when I meant to reject any of them; in some cases I knew I would be interpreted as rejecting them; in other cases I was taken by surprise at their responses. In fact, I've known the frustrating syndrome of sincerely thinking that I was expressing particular acceptance and affirmation toward someone, only to discover later that they received my words as rejection.

I have also tasted a little bit of what the apostle Paul wrote about when He told the believers at Corinth, "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved." (2 Cor. 12:15) Paul loved the Corinthians so much that he was willing to hazard their affection in order to minister loving correction and rebuke. He extended genuine love to them, but they interpreted his love as rejection...

In our better moments, with the best of intentions, we can still cause others to feel rejected by us. As long as we're on this earth, rejection will always be one of the foremost issues involved in the dynamics of out interpersonal relationships.

We've all know rejection in the past... It's inevitable; we are guaranteed to feel rejection again. Thus, how we deal with rejection becomes an ever-present issue which we must face honestly...

Rejection affects us more profoundly than we care to admit. We can convince ourselves that we have not been wounded by someone's rejection, but then we begin to realize we have constructed self-projecting mechanisms to insulate ourselves from reoccurrence of that kind of injury. The protective walls we build around our souls are the evidence that the rejection has wounded us more than we thought. Consequently, our relationships with others suffer. We have distanced ourselves from others because of our past pains, and now struggle to find full satisfaction in the relationships God has given us. Rejection has left its scar.

It's tempting to respond to rejection with an inner vow, "That's the last time I'll let anyone else hurt me like that." We think we are protecting ourselves from further rejection, but instead we're trapping ourselves in a pattern of behavior that only binds us to the bitterness of the past. When we serve that need to stay protected, we relate to others in a way that only serves to escalate the volume of rejection we continue to encounter from them.

Once we've been really wounded by rejection, relationships become a great risk. We calculate, "Are the potential benefits of this relationship worth risking the potential hurts of this relationship?" so we decide how much of our soul we will open to this person. New relationships can be seen as a gamble.

"The heart knows its own bitterness" Prov. 14:10 No one but you knows the depths of your heartache. You have known the bitterness of rejection, the depths of which no other human being fully understands. You have carried the wounds of private pain, suffering in a way know to God alone....

[but] No one understands rejection better than Jesus.

~excerpts from DEALING WITH THE PRAISE AND REJECTION OF MAN from pp. 3-7 by Bob Sorge

I've just started the book, so there will be more to come, if you're interested...