FROM REJECTED to ACCEPTED

All of us have experienced rejection; none of us want it.
Our experiences of rejection may have come from our family of origin, from parental rejection or emotional neglect, from sibling rivalry, unkindness or rejection. It may have come from social rejection, bullying or alienation in school, the neighborhood, workplace. Maybe it was from a social group where we wanted connection but instead, we felt like an outsider, who was dismissed, spurned, marginalized or disrespected. Our sense of rejection may have come from the breakdown in a personal relationship. No matter the source, rejection stings.

Rejection takes an emotional toll conveying, “you don’t matter.” The sting is real. MRI studies show that when we experience rejection the same areas of the brain are activated as when we experience physical pain. No wonder rejection hurts.

We live in a broken, fallen world, among sinful people, including me and you. Consequently, we all experience rejection. But as believers in Jesus, we don’t face it alone.

Isaiah says Jesus was “despised and rejected by men….” Peter called Jesus, “a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.” He writes of believers, “you yourselves [are] like living stones…, you who believe…are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession…. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” (1Peter 2:4-10).

We are accepted by God, “chosen,” precious to Him. We are accepted not because of what we have done, but God Himself has made us accepted in His beloved Son forever! The same Christ who was rejected and despised is the One who takes us in with loving acceptance.

When you feel rejected by people you love, or by people who are important to you, the pain can feel overwhelming. But even in that overwhelming pain, you are accepted and loved by God. Psalm 27:10 declares “…the Lord will take you in.”

Ask Him to take you in. He will always accept you. Having experienced rejection Himself, He knows how you feel.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so, we are” (1 John 3:1).

What experiences of rejection have impacted you?

How has God’s met you in the pain of rejection to bring hope, acceptance and security in His love?