My reality is simple….I have stumbled over this next blog for days….editing with no peace to release. I pray the Lord has taken my attempt to release wisdom and put His Spirit over you as you read……
The Truth we all must face is this:
How We Deal With Rejection Defines Our Destiny….
And I believe that we all must understand and be aware of this because the reality is this: People will reject you, they will reject me, and they will even reject themselves. It is how we deal with this rejection that will determine where we end up….
As I stumbled on this hard word, I was taken back to a moment several years ago that caught me in tears as I read a Sports Illustrated story about Peyton Manning. He had gone from MVP, Super Bowl champion, and record setting quarterback to a man who found himself on the waiver wire…..he had been cut.
This is not a new concept for not only the NFL….which many claim stands for “Not For Long”……but for the world we live in today.
It does not take long to for the world to disregard anyone who does not live up to the standard……and I believe this is simply the reality of what the enemy would love to have happen in our world today.
I can remember teaching in Sunday School about spiritual warfare and having a parent come up to me and say: “We do not believe in that.”
Ephesians 6 states a different truth: God warns us that our battle is not against flesh and blood….it is a BATTLE….and it is a SPIRITUAL fight.
As I prayed about this in church, I felt convicted about the vowels of spiritual warfare that the enemy would bring against us. This is not scientific nor all-inclusive…it is simply a few ways the enemy tries to attack us.
A is for ACCEPTANCE
The enemy would love to convince us that those we value will no longer ACCEPT us. It is the very reason, I believe, that Nicodemus wanted to speak with Jesus at night. As we read in John 3, they have a wonderful exchange that leads us to the most spoken phrase in the Bible in John 3:16 “For God so loved… But what about this Nicodemus? I often wonder if he truly understood the power of persuasion that he had within the Jews. He cowered away in the middle of the night to have a conversation with Jesus and then secretly followed Him. Why didn’t he use his high position to influence the council?
When we look into it, we probably don’t like the answer….and that is because the answer is the same reason that we cower away….
We are afraid of rejection.
The cold reality of the world is this: we will be rejected anyway……and if we try to live our life to gain acceptance then we are in for great pain. This is not to say that the world will always reject us–and it is not meant to be the bad news……but if we think that we will be accepted for who we really are by all who we would want to accept us……we are deceived.
Jesus experienced this….and in one moment back then He wants to make it clear to you today: He WILL NOT REJECT YOU.
Luke 7 36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is–that she is a sinner.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Here is the truth that we need to have spoken over us: If the Lord will go to an elaborate dinner and allow a sinful woman to fall at His feet without shame……He will take anyone. The question is NOT: Will He take me? The question is: Will you take Him?
God has ACCEPTED you.
He has deemed you lovable.
He set His eternity on a course to have you….and He has sealed it with His life and with His blood.
Will you be ACCEPTED for standing up? Maybe not. But as Jim Elliott said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
So the next time you hide behind the fear of being rejected….remember: You are FORGIVEN. And when you walk out God’s purpose for you in your full extent—you might be opposed and afraid—but you will also be truly alive. So…Accept Him and His forgiveness and purpose to be a witness…..because even if we responded the WRONG WAY to rejection in the past……God can BREAK OUR CHAINS, RESTORE WHAT IS LOST, AND REDEEM OUR LIVES TO BE BETTER THAN THEY WERE BEFORE WE WENT THE WRONG WAY.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Coach J
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