originally posted July 2018
Have you ever been:
- rejected, fired, laid-off or dismissed?
- released, removed, retired or asked to resign?
- axed, terminated, discharged, pink-slipped or sacked?
- left behind, left out, suspended or expelled?
- dumped, broken-up with, or date-dropped, left at the altar or divorced?
- part of a group and the group moved on, but you didn’t?
- displaced, deported, driven out, ostracized or spurned?
- ejected, evicted, exiled, excluded or excommunicated?
- cast out, chased out, mustered out, kicked out, turned out, run out, thrown out or drummed out?
Have you ever:
- asked someone on a date and they said “no”?
- asked someone to marry you and they said “no”?
Have you ever applied for a college, a job, a promotion, or put an offer on a house, but someone else got it instead?
Have you ever tried out for a team, a club or a group and didn’t make it?
All rejection hurts. Some of it hurts deep; deep in the heart, and the emotions, and the psyche. Some of it can hurt so bad that it alters the way we think and the actions we take.
Sometimes we are at fault for our rejection, and sometimes it has nothing to do with us at all.
If you have been rejected, remember:
- welcome to the human race.
- no one gets out of this world without being accepted somewhere and rejected somewhere else.
- it’s part of the human condition, and dependent on human relations.
In spite of your rejection, you can overcome, you can recover, you can come back, you can heal, mend, rally, recuperate, cope, endure, get by, hang in, make out, manage, persevere, continue, persist, tarry, prevail and survive!
You can also understand that you weren’t the first to be rejected. In fact, the first people, were the first people to be rejected.
Genesis 3:23-24
So the Lord God BANISHED him (Adam and Eve) from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he DROVE THE MAN (them) OUT, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (NIV)
Can you imagine being in the Garden of Eden? The perfect place on earth, no work is mentioned, just eating fruits and vegetables at your leisure. Walking and talking with God in the cool of the evening.
And then you blow it! And you are banished forever! Banished from the perfect place, and from God’s presence. And for the rest of your lives, you will never fully recover!
Banished and driven out by God Almighty. Ouch, that had to hurt.
“When you are hurt, you have only two options: You can either relive it or release it. Reliving the hurt only perpetuates the pain. But releasing the hurt is the path to inner peace.” Pastor Rick Warren, 40 Days of Prayer.
There are certainly some extreme rejections that are difficult to release; they will take some time and effort to get over. But, if you’re not in the process of releasing it, then it’s likely that you’re still in the process of reliving it.
Conclusion:
Rejection is common to all mankind, therefore, overcoming rejection must also be common.
