Rejection is Hard!

It starts in elementary school - or at least it was like this when I was in elementary school. Kickball teams get picked at recess. And someone is always the last one picked.

Sports career is ruined.

Then maybe through high school you get rejected from the star roles in the plays and musicals.

Drama career? Not likely.

And how many applications did you go through to get that job?

Rejection is pretty much a part of life. And we learn to deal with it. We learn that there are activities like sports and drama that you leave for others to do. And you learn that there are other things to do besides sports and drama.

But as an adult it seems that rejection keeps coming and keeps getting harder.

Maybe you got fired from a job.

Maybe you got served divorce papers.

Maybe an adult child tells you that he wants nothing to do with you ever again.

Maybe you've been abandoned and left in a nursing home with no one to visit you.

Rejection is hard. It causes pain. It causes awkward situations. It leads to sleepless nights.

It's a part of life. It hurts.

But let's turn that around and look at it from God's perspective.

Do we ever stop to think that every time we choose to disobey, we are rejecting God?

Does it even cross our minds when facing temptation, that to surrender to self is a rejection of God?

How it must hurt God, who is holy, loving and kind - all the time - and therefore does not deserve to be rejected!

Yet, He remains holy, loving and kind. Forgiving. Merciful. Gracious.

If we reject Him through our disobedience, He is ready to accept us back into fellowship. He hasn't turned His back on us; we have turned from Him.

The remedy for the broken relationship is repentance: turning from our sin and turning toward God.

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of His Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:7-9).

God has not rejected you. If the relationship with Him is broken, you can turn to Him.