When I think of the word “rejected” I think of a large, messy, red inked stamp being violently slapped onto an important application and tossed to the side on top of a much larger stack of rejections…as if it carried no significance or value at all. Needless to say, the word holds a very dramatic place in my mind.
Being in a sales career for more than twenty-five years now, I have lived through my fair share of rejection. I always told myself it was fuel to keep going. It would always make the next sale that much sweeter. As time went on I grew completely numb to the possibility of rejection. I just kept working, asking and relying on the Lord to bless me with sales when the time was right.
It has been an amazing adventure with the Lord right by my side. The more I depend on him, the happier I am with my career, my friends and with my family.
Rejection comes in so many different forms. My daughters have rejected my well planned suppers, my amazing advice on how to navigate life and even, sometimes….my fashion choices. But more times that not, rejection has a much more serious aftermath. Hurt feelings, depression, insecurities, anger or loss of trust. Rejection can leave lasting scars that can only be healed with time or therapy. Time, therapy and the Lord.
Think about the Samaritan woman at the well who chose to draw her water during the heat of the day instead of the cool of the morning. She more than likely chose the heat of the day because there would be no one there who could judge her or reject her for having had five husbands and currently living with a man who was not her husband. She was an adulteress and the community knew it. Her community ostracized people like her. She had the emotional scars to prove it.
There would be no one there to reject her if she chose her time wisely.
But the surprise was on her this day. As she meekly approached the well, she sees Jesus sitting there. It was an even bigger surprise that he spoke to her and asked her for water. Jesus broke all of the rules in a matter of minutes. A Jewish man spoke to a woman, not only a woman but a woman who was a sinner and a Samaritan. This woman gave Jesus so many reasons to reject her but he didn’t. He offered her living water so she would never thirst again and told her all about herself.
This is what our savior does for us. He knows us because he formed us. And, he loves us anyway. Though people may reject us for our ideas, our happiness, our joy, our fashion choices, the color of our hair, our sin, our weirdness, the fact that we are divorced or our political views….Jesus does not. He wants us to bring all of this baggage on a great adventure that can only be found in him.
Don’t let the giant red stamp of rejection ruin your life. Turn to Jesus who knows a thing or two about rejection….He was ultimately despised and rejected in the worst kind of way.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31
