Coping with Rejection
By Greg Johnson
http://www.LovingGodFellowship.org
I remember as a kid when we would play basketball, football or baseball in the neighborhood, we would start by choosing two captains. The captains would then take turns choosing the players they wanted until all the players were picked. The best players would always go first leaving the last ones picked with feelings of rejection.
Have you ever been rejected? Maybe by someone you loved or someone you respected and looked up to. Maybe you have been rejected by family and friends when you went through difficult times and needed them the most. It’s usually when you go through tough times that you find out who are your real friends. Maybe you were rejected and didn’t get that job, promotion, raise or bonus you were looking forward to getting. Maybe you have been rejected by people because of mistakes and bad choices you have made. You may even be rejected for not doing anything wrong. Maybe you have been rejected because of your race. Maybe you have been rejected because of an imperfection or handicap.
How do you cope with rejection? How do you react to rejection? How do you respond to rejection? How do you process and work through rejection? I’ve had to deal with rejection in my life on many occasions. I have not always reacted properly, but I am finding out that God uses rejection in my life to help mold and shape me into what He wants me to be.
Rejection in my life began at an early age. I had a very bad speech impediment when I was young. My immediate family even had difficulty understanding what I was saying. God blessed me by allowing me to be born into a family that loved me. They didn’t reject me or make fun of me because of my handicap; they loved me. I didn’t even realize I had a problem until I started school. Just a little time after I started, my mom got a call from my teacher informing her that I was withdrawing because the other children were rejecting me and making fun of me because of my speech impediment. My parents immediately sought help for me and I began years of speech therapy through a local university. At an early age, God began to help me through rejection.
You can expect children to act in such a fashion as those that rejected me as a child struggling with a handicap. Throughout my life, the greatest hurt has come from suffering rejection from those that I did not expect. I’ve been a credentialed minister faithfully serving and preaching the Gospel for over 15 years now. I was credentialed in 1991 by the denomination that I was born into and grew up in. In 1993, I left a job with a fortune 500 company where I was making close to $50,000 per year and started pastoring a home mission church in northern West Virginia that paid us $50 per week. Our first Sunday we had six people and four of them was me, my wife and my two small children. We faithfully served our Lord and our denomination there and other places where most would never go. God has always blessed us and we have learned that His provision follows our obedience to Him. He is so faithful.
I feel prompted by the Lord to be very authentic and transparent with you right now. I’ve had much reluctance in going public, but I feel the Lord would have me share something with you that has caused me and my family great hurt and pain. At the same time we have found that God’s grace has been sufficient and our dependence upon our Lord has grown intensely. I think our journey through it will strengthen others as they go through unjust rejection from unlikely sources.
I faithfully served on staff for a prominent and large church in the denomination that I was born in and grew up in. My wife and I loved the people and served them and the pastor there as unto Jesus. After we had been there two years, God required us to resign. Our whole family was in agreement that God was requiring this move of obedience so we resigned the position not knowing what we would be doing next, but knowing that God’s provision would follow our obedience. The rejection that followed our obedience was unexpected. After tendering my resignation a prominent person told me that it would be “immoral” if I kept my family in the same state of the church since I had been on staff there. I assured them that I did not know what the next step was, but that my wife and I were feeling led to go on a 40 day fast to seek the will of God. I also made it clear that I would do what God required me to do and go where He required me to go. You would think that obedience to God would please others and that they would be encouraging people to a life of obedience. Over the course of time, I found out that it was not the case. In fact, obedience to God make the religionist of our day very nervous.
To much surprise this same individual proceeded to encourage people to not have any association with us and those that did were quickly confronted and reprimanded. Needless to say, my family went through much hurt and pain due to this unjust rejection, but we never tried to defend our obedience to God. To make a long story short, because of this whole ordeal, God required me to obtain ordination with another credentialing body and to resign my credentials with the denomination that I had faithfully served. This is why Loving God Fellowship is an interdenominational Christian fellowship with a mission of Loving God and people. We don’t want people to join a church or a denomination. We desire that people submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
I can’t say that me and my family have overcome the hurt and pain caused by this unjust rejection or that I have always handled it properly. I can say that through it all, Jesus is helping us and He is showing me how to cope with unjust rejection from unlikely sources.
I want you to find encouragement from the Word of God today because God has shown me that there are many today that are dealing with rejection. He has also shown me that there are many that will have to deal with rejection in the future. And this rejection will come from unlikely sources just like mine.
Jesus was rejected and it came from unlikely sources. He knows the life of unjust rejection. He knows the pain and the hurt caused by rejection from unlikely sources. God’s Word says this about Jesus. (John 1:11-12 NIV) "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. {12} Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--"
JESUS WAS REJECTED BY HIS VERY OWN PEOPLE.
Can you imagine what Jesus went through growing up in the city of Nazareth? He heard the whispers of the people as He walked down the street to the empty field to play with friends. “There’s Mary and Joseph’s boy. I can’t believe Joseph married that woman. She got pregnant prior to their marriage. And if that was not bad enough, she blamed her pregnancy on God.” I imagine Jesus heard words like this quite often. I also imagine that some parents prohibited their children to play with Jesus because of this stigma. Jesus learned at an early age what rejection was and the pain and hurt that was associated with it.
JESUS WAS REJECTED BY THE RELIGIONIST OF HIS DAY.
The Gospel of Luke records Jesus’ rejection in His hometown. (Luke 4:16-30 NIV) "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. {17} The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: {18} "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, {19} to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." {20} Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, {21} and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." {22} All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn’t this Joseph’s son?" they asked. {23} Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ’Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’" {24} "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. {25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. {26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. {27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian." {28} All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. {29} They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. {30} But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way."
Jesus’ rejection continued throughout His life. The bulk of His rejection came from unlikely sources – those that claimed to be in right relationship with God. The religionist of Jesus’ day came against Him often and they ultimately led to His crucifixion on an old rugged cross. How did Jesus cope with this tremendous rejection? He prayed. He depended and trusted in God’s Word. He stayed obedient to the Father no matter what people thought or no matter how they treated Him.
Beloved, I am finding that the only way to successfully cope with rejection is to follow Jesus’ example. Pray. Depend and trust in God’s Word. Stay obedient to Jesus’ Word, His will and His example no matter what people think and no matter how they treat me. You see, as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, He knows how to lead us through the pain and hurt of rejection. He went through it Himself and He has compassion on those that are rejected. He will bring supernatural peace to those that turn to Him in the midst of their pain and hurt. He will pour out more of His grace and the recipient will find that His grace truly is sufficient.
SOME REJECTED AND SOME RECEIVED.
Again God’s Word says (John 1:11-12 NIV) "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. {12} Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--” Some rejected and some received.
Not only have I made a choice to receive Jesus and not reject Him, I have also made a choice to be a person that doesn’t reject people, but a person that receives people. We have enough people inside and outside the church that reject people. I desire to be a receiver and not a rejecter.
I’m so glad that Jesus is a receiver and not a rejecter. Jesus will never reject anybody that comes to Him. It doesn’t matter where they have been. It doesn’t matter what they have done. Jesus receives them just as they are as they come to Him in faith believing that He is the Christ; making Him their Lord and Savior.
Will you be a rejecter or will you be a receiver? Will you reject people or will you receive people like Jesus did? What will you do with Jesus? Will you reject Him or will you receive Him? Every time we go our own way and do our own thing, we reject Jesus. We must submit our will to His will. We must continually obey Jesus’ Word, His will and His example. As we do, we receive Him. And when we receive Jesus, He gives us the right to become children of God!
Beloved, be a receiver and not a rejecter. Receive people as unto Jesus. We have too many rejecters that are causing much pain and hurt in our day. Don’t be a rejecter. Love people and don’t reject them. And when it comes to Jesus, continually obey His Word, His will and His example. As you do, you receive Him and are worthy to be counted among the children of God.
http://www.lovinggodfellowship.org/greg_johnson_blog
