Love in the Face of Rejection

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” -1 Cor 13:4-7 NLT

Have you ever been rejected?  I think all of us have experienced rejection at some point in our lives.  If you’re an actor or musician, you might experience much more rejection than the rest of us. But most people who experience a lot of success in any field have experienced much rejection.  That’s what makes their success more rare than the average person - they worked hard and endured more rejection than most of us are willing to tolerate.

The story of Hosea and Gomer is an unusual one.  God instructs Hosea the prophet to chose a prostitute and marry her - and continue to be faithful even though she continued to be unfaithful. (Hosea 1:3) He did this as a symbol of the nation of Israel at that time who had been unfaithful to their true God, rejecting Him, His love, and His decrees. Jesus also did something that we never deserved - He died on a cross for our sins - in spite of the fact that the people during that time persecuted Him and put Him on the cross. He loved them (and us) in spite of their (and our) complete rejection of His love.

Every day, we have the choice to reject as the world rejects, or love and accept as Jesus has loved us.  If we are really seeking our calling we will likely experience a lot of rejection, but the benefits to fulfilling our calling will far outweigh the rejection and opinions of man.  It is essential that we keep our hearts pure and seek God first, so that we know our affirmation and worth comes from Him and those He has put in our lives to confirm His plans for us. 

Jesus calls us to love in spite of rejection.  Even when life gives us hard blows, we are still to love and accept, let go and protect.  Are you able to love in spite of rejection today?

Our Perfect Father

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” -Matthew 7:11

I didn’t have the best relationship with my dad growing up. He seemed cold, aloof, and distant. When I asked for attention in my own little way, his lack of affirmation (he had a VERY introverted personality) seemed like pure rejection!  My parent’s relationship didn’t help much either - it was a constant war zone.

Although we had a lot of junk in our family when I was young, my dad and I have a MUCH better relationship now than we ever had before. We can talk openly and I really feel that he cares for me. As I see him getting older it saddens my heart that none of us live forever, on this earth at least.

Before my relationship with my dad was restored, I had a negative view of my heavenly Father too. I didn’t know God as my "Dad" - I knew Him as an indifferent God who didn’t care about me or the details of my life. I was so mad at Him because He allowed bad things to happen to me. He didn’t change my negative circumstances. So to me I thought it meant He didn’t care.

But when I sought out and experienced God personally, my perception of Him completely changed.

A lot of us don’t have what we desire out of life because we don't believe we deserve it. Our problem starts in our belief. What do we believe about God?  We will perceive God the way we perceived our dads growing up.  If we don’t believe the person we are asking has good intentions for us, why would we even want to ask Him for what we need or want?

Now my dad spoils me in any way he can, even though I am now 28. If my earthly dad does this, how much more does our Heavenly Father want to love, cherish, and ridiculously bless His kids?

Unconditional

 

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34

 

What does it mean to have unconditional love and acceptance for others? The world seems to do a good job. The song "Born This Way", a statement of unconditional acceptance by Lady GaGa has been on the Billboard Music Chart's #1 spot for several weeks. But as Christians, even though it's our command to love others, we seem to have failed miserably. This is evident in the world's view of us as hypocritical and judgmental, nothing more than a political action group trying to push our agenda.

But Jesus is no respecter of persons, and He is no respecter of sins. He modeled unconditional love in the story of the woman who had committed adultery and was brought to Jesus in the temple courts. The Pharisees said, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" Jesus had been kneeling on the ground writing in the sand. He said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." He then said to her, "I do not condemn you, go and leave your life of sin." (John 8:1-11)

We need to love others, and also realize that their behavior is caused by a root of something else that happened long ago. Issues like addiction, pornography, homosexuality, and overeating have to do with lack of love in a person's life or traumatic experiences that happened at a very young age. If we are really going to be Jesus to people, we need to show the type of love that Jesus modeled. That may include dealing with our own issues so we don't come off as hypocrites along the way. We need to model what we say.

Jesus loves us before we change. Jesus loves us if we never change. He invites us to experience the fullness of His love by giving up our sinful desires, but His love remains the same.

Is there someone you could love unconditionally today?

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35