The Pain of Rejection!

Rejection is the single most common emotional wound we sustain in daily life.

Mark R. Leary of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA has this to say about rejection: ‘In many ways, hurt feelings can be regarded as the “rejection emotion” in that people's feelings are hurt by events that connote that other people do not regard their relationship with them to be as valuable or important as the individual desires, thereby leading them to feel rejected’.A great deal of human emotion arises in response to real, remembered, or imagined rejection by other people.

When scientists placed people in functional MRI machines and asked them to recall a recent rejection, they discovered that the same areas of our brain become activated when we experience rejection and when we experience physical pain. Criticism is the most common way of expressing one’s rejection of another person. People often refrain from strongly criticizing those they really care about. Rejection we experience from the people closest to us is strong enough to push us toward depression and in some cases even to death. But the good news is the power of the Cross can overcome the pain of rejection!

We have all walked this way at some point or other. We might have been rejected based on our colour, our looks, our family, our abilities or our past. But God does not reject even the vilest sinner for He came to the Cross for everyone. His grace and His comfort are ours. Every born-again child of God has all of these provisions and blessings in Christ, but we have to choose to appropriate them. If we need shade, we have to choose to walk under the tree! The Bible says in I Corinthians 1:27-29 that, “… God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen … that no flesh should glory in His presence “. God does not reject anyone!

My friend, never lose heart. Look to Jesus alone. You are special in His eyes. Accept the forgiveness provided at the Cross and forgive those who have hurt you. Forgiving those who have hurt us is the only way by which we can find that promised rest!

Categories: Weekly DevotionalsAuthor: Hephzibah StephenDate: 13th November 2018 Share: newsletterDisplay date: 14th November 2018

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