A Lesson on Rejection
When Standing for Truth Leaves You Rejected
When was the last time you experienced rejection? Was it after a job you applied for and didn’t get? Did you ask someone out on a date only to be turned down? Or did a family member or friend ignore your text to hang out? Have you been cheated on you in a relationship? Maybe you didn’t get invited to that party you wish you had?
I’d say, we all face this reality in one way or another, on multiple scales throughout our lives. Can you remember the way being rejected made you feel? I don’t mean to turn this into a therapy session, but I could name a handful of times I have experienced this as of late. Rejection stings. That’s it. It simply sucks. I can be the one to tell you firsthand that this is true.
However, when rejection happens, where do you run? Where do you hide? Who do you turn to? I would like to be quite frank and honest with you for a minute if you would allow me to…
This past weekend I made an attempt to reach out to a nearby neighbor who, to the naked eye, has seemed lonely to my family and I. I had been in communication with her over the past month or two (notice I said “I” and not “we”). Putting yourself out there when trying to reach someone who makes it nearly impossible to be reached can be a difficult task.
Being kept to yourself isn’t necessarily a wrong or negative trait. In fact, it can sometimes be what keeps you out of trouble or might even be what saves your life in some scenarios. However, ideally: People need people. When you come to the other side of knowing Christ, you understand the importance of fellowship, and it is for this reason that I decided to give it a go, to reach her for Christ.
Disclaimer: I’m not sharing this to toot my own horn in any way. I think if you know me, you know this is true. I share this with you now as a means of learning in light of God’s truth.
In any case, it was previously made known to her that I am a Christian, so she was aware of the angle I was coming from. I had spent some amount of time articulating through a letter to her the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope I have found in Him. When approached to give it to her, she very quickly refused. To my dismay, it seemed to me that I had invested much of myself and my time into someone who blatantly and outrightly could care less about Christ. It was like a sucker-punch to my gut. You know that feeling?
My heart sank for a second as I processed this. I wrestled internally as I was taken aback by her response. Can someone say, “Reality check?!” For some of you, this may not have come as a shocker, but for me, it for some reason was.
As I walked home, discouraged and surprised, I opened up to God as I processed all that occurred in these few moments. It seems it was unbeknownst to me that we are living in a world right now with people who hate truth and ultimately, who hate God. We live in a fallen world. How do I know this for certain you might ask? The Bible says so.
When sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis, everything changed. Humans disobeyed God’s rule and command and for it, we paid the penalty. Disobedience always results with a penalty. In any case, the world became fallen. This act can otherwise be known as sin. God had one idea in mind, and apparently, we had another.
Why am I mentioning this? 1. It’s on my mind because of the letter to my neighbor, but really 2. Sin is a key component in our understanding of rejection. Friend, you need to understand that standing for truth isn’t something to be taken lightly. Not only are you doing what is just in our society, you are standing on the side of right before the Lord God Almighty.
When you stand for truth, you stand for righteousness!
Can I encourage you for a moment? When I came to God, with what seemed like a crushed heart in the moments that proceeded from my time with the neighbor, I searched God’s Word and found this… The Bible says:
“18 ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.’”
- Jesus, in John 15:18-21
Hold the phone—did you read that?!?!I could stop writing here… but I won’t because I have more to tell you. When you stand for truth and really, when you stand for Christ and His truth, you will be hated. This is not a hot, trendy, twenty-first century message that people want to hear, but I tell you the truth in love. If you are going to take a stand for Biblical truth, the truth we will be shedding light on in this newsletter, you are going to be faced with slander and will be ridiculed and hated by the people of this world. Why? They hated Jesus, and if you stand on His team and for His truth, they will also hate you too.
I don’t mean for this to hit too deep, but the truth is just that good. With all the fuss of our day, of our time, there is no greater decision than to follow Christ and to stand on His Word, for His Word is truth. My Instagram bio currently includes a phrase that says, “Stand for truth or fall for lies.” This is true (Duh, it is!—It’s in my Instagram bio, so it must be). No, but seriously…
When we don’t stand for truth, we fall prey to lies.
This is what we are seeing in our society to date, the masses falling for lies. The world has gone mad! You know what else seems to be happening? A decline of absolute Biblical, Christian truth. Some might read that and think, “Yuck!” We could analyze the paradigms of truth for days, but what I am here to tell you is that there is no greater truth to build your life upon than God’s. For too many reasons for me to list here today, God’s Word is a solid rock in which you can build your life, family, and faith upon. He’s that good.
I wanted to gently come on here to point out this simple truth for you before it hits you between the eyes like it did a bit for me. I want you to know that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) (Look at that—a chapter before our main text). Learn from my pain, and be warned! The task set out before us is not one for the faint of heart, but be of good cheer! The Bible says,
“Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.”
- Psalm 30:5
Galatians 6:9 also says,
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
This world is slowly fading away, but God’s Word remains. Put your trust in Christ, and He will give you the strength to endure the coming times.
“‘Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.’
‘I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty.’”
- 2 Corinthians 6:17-18
There is a darkness that plagues us, and God calls us to be separate from the world as a great deception is coming and is already here. They hated Christ. They’ll hate you too when you stand on and for His truth.
“3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God… 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteousness deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 9-12
These are the times we are in. Be discerning, stand for Christ, and do not be discouraged or dismayed, for our God is with us (Joshua 1:9).