Rejection

To be rejected hurts---sometimes very deeply.  There are small  and large rejections. If I wave to my neighbor and he turns away without responding, I feel rejected---snubbed.  If my wife betrays a confidence of mine to her female friend; that's a deeper rejection.
No matter how deep the rejection, I  can take it in a better or worse direction. I can react in anger or revenge, making matters worse for myself and all concerned. I can allow it to smoulder within me--make a point to turn a cold shoulder to the neighbor at every opportunity--become sarcastic and passive-aggressive to my wife.  I can allow these dark seeds to grow in me for years--decades--a life time.  This would be a terrible waste of precious life-energy; and this example points to the importance of knowing Jesus and His life/teachings. He teaches, by life and word, that we are to love our enemies, forgive them, and refrain from returning "evil for evil." This does not make us a silent, passive victim. It does not mean that we schmooze over bad stuff without dealing with it. Christ courageously spoke the truth--even to those who had the power of physical life or death over Him. But He did it in the Spirit of Love--not  anger, hurt, rejection, retaliation, etc. He was angry at times, but even in His anger He acted for the common good, not out of personal feelings. Regardless of His feelings, what had been done to Him, etc. His actions were always motivated by Love. And so must ours be. When we respond in Love vs. react in anger or revenge, we are delivered from the unnecessary and sad condition of unforgiveness, feelings of rejection, indignation, hurt, anger etc.  We are as vulnerable to rejection as we are immature in Christ. In Christ we are never victims--not only to rejection, but to anything from the dark side. We are "more than conquerors" in His Love. I placed emphasis on those last three words because they are supremely important. We are only safe, free and victorious in His Love. God is not your pal, taking sides with you against all those mean ole sinners who have rejected you. He loves them as much as He loves you. In fact, if you fail to forgive them, you place yourself outside the realm of His protective care. Jesus said  there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" out there. And we have all experienced enough of the outer darkness to know the truth of His words. In fact, the unforgiveness itself is a form of inner gnashing of teeth. Without Christ, we are lost in that darkness and we don't even know that we are lost. In Him, no human rejection can ever destroy us, or even tear us down for long. Our confidence doesn't come from what people think of us or how they treat us, but only from knowing that we are faithfully  following our Lord and Friend with sincere hearts. And there will always be some friends along the Way who are as sincere as you. You will never be alone. Even as Jesus knew the Father was with Him, and so could peacefully face all that happened to Him: false accusation, betrayal by one of His own disciples, denial of His staunchest disciple, mocked, beaten, spat upon, and crucified; so we will be able to bear whatever rejection we must face in our lives. We will pray along with Him, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." But we will have to add, "And forgive me, for I do not always respond to rejection as I should. And there are those who have suffered rejection at my hands."