Redeeming Love #1-Rejected
Francine Rivers' award winning novel Redeeming Love has hit the big screen and is now in theaters. While I loved the book I haven't decided if I will be able to watch the movie due to the violent content.
My plan in the weeks ahead are to post a 5 part series of highlights from Rivers' companion, 40 day devotional book called A Path to Redeeming Love. The lessons and scriptures within this book are powerful. Section one is on rejection.
Before digging in the Spirit led me to Google and looked up the definition of rejection. As I read, visions of people I've seen being rejected in my life time flashed back and it made me feel ill.
Eldridge, the severely handicapped and deformed girl in elementary school sitting with her walker and later wheel chair by the playground wall. While I was always kind to her, but why did I never invite her home or ask to go to her house and visit after school.
Middle school and integration. Maybe because I was raised by a black woman, who was a mama to me and lived with us, I had more compassion and an ease of becoming friends with those of other races. Or maybe it was because Jesus was wooing me and showing me value in others. With deep gratitude I remember the middle school teacher who invested in me more than any other. He was my first black teacher. After graduating from college he offered me a teaching job in a city where he had become principal of a school.
College and sorority rush. Nuff said right there. Watching girls not "be accepted" is just wrong and a real stomach churner for me.
I could go on and on exclaiming rejection sitings as a sibling, an athlete, a student, a school teacher, a mom, grandmother, pastor's wife, a neighbor and as just a plain ole grocery store shopper who sees heads hung low as they shop. Rejection hurts!
Definitions:
Rejection can be defined as the act of pushing someone or something away. One may experience rejection from one's family of origin, a friend, or a romantic partner, and the resulting emotions can often be painful. Rejection can be experienced on a large scale or in small ways in everyday life.
The Latin noun rēicere, which means "to throw back," is the ancestor of the word rejection.
Merriman Webster says: to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use
rejected the suggestion : to refuse to hear or receive.
Is your heart stirring as you remember being rejected and rejecting others yourself?
Let's dig in to some thoughts from author Francine Rivers and God's Word.
"Rejection is a wound. Sometimes it heals quickly. Sometimes it takes years...Yet sometimes there is another side to the rejection we experience, a side we would never guess until light shines on it and we seek the love and acceptance we have longed for since the womb...
We long for approval from those we admire...Over time, our brains turn "I don't love you" into "No one will ever love you." "You're not good at this" can become "You're just not good enough" and then "You're worthless."
David's thoughts in Psalm 139:13-16 speak truth over those lies.
You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
I give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works.
and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
Well, there is reason for a jolly hallelujah!
Rivers writes "When we're convinced that God has our backs, we are freed from fear of rejection and can live at peace in the reality of His unchanging love...If you're stuck in unforgiveness and rejection, realize those traps are not from God."
Psalm 103:8-12
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Isn't it incredible how God's Word soothes!
"We might doubt God's care because of a crisis in our own lives: the death of someone we love, a financial setback, or a painful rift in an important relationship. So many things seem to go wrong, leaving us frustrated, exhausted, and confuses...Scripture doesn't provide easy answers for the why questions we face. But the Bible does give us truths to cling to while we ask them."
Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Deuteronomy 31:8
The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
"Struggles will be an integral part of life as long as we're alive, so don't let yourself believe that your challenges mean that God has rejected you. Instead, focus on the fact that He is the God who cares deeply in the midst of the challenges."
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.
The Song
"Do it Again" by Elevation Worship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOBIPb-6PTc
