DEALING WITH REJECTION

(May 27)

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jn 15: 18-19)

Sometimes we might make the mistake of wanting to “belong” to those or to that which is not, actually, “ours,” and we don’t realize we’ve made this mistake until we suffer rejection. And this hurts.

But this kind of pain, if we receive it in God’s light, is a great “teachable moment,” revealing more to us about our “vocation” as “ekklesia” (from “ekkaleo,” meaning “to call out”) to follow Christ. We are called to be, and are dignified with being, “His own,” and nobody else’s, as long as we are willing to be, – and this means we will be recognized as imposters in many places and by many individuals and groups of people in this world, who will recognize us as not “theirs.” We also might be rejected by individuals who also belong to Christ, but are not called to serve or be served by, us, for whatever reason God only knows, – which is a different kind of situation. In any event our “rejection” is ultimately a good thing, even if hurtful in the moment, which protects us from wasting time on relationships that won’t work in the end. Let me be teachable and grateful today, in a Christ-focused manner, as I re-connect with Him on this sunny morning. And let me remember a helpful phrase I heard from a wise person: “Rejection is God’s protection.”