Rejecting Rejection: Loving others anyway!

It is Love Others Friday! I took some cookies and brownies to work, I hope you showed your coworkers some love this week. Now lets continue learning to love others!

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I've been rejected a lot in my life. Some completely on purpose, and sometimes the person doesn't even know they have make me feel rejected. I find it really hard to love through this pain but I know that I should.

Loving through rejection is not something that is easy. I want to refer to my natural man, you know the flesh, sin filled one. My flesh wants to lash out in anger, bringing up the past. Yeah, I've done that. The flesh of me wants to reject those around me who reject me first. The flesh in me wants to sulk in my room crying, because once again I've been rejected, left behind, unloved.

Well my great and powerful God teaches me that I should love others through my rejection!

That sure is hard to swallow!

After feeling like I had been deeply rejected for a few days I decided to study rejection. So I'm going to share with you the how God turned rejection to love.

God had been rejected by the Israelite, it seemed they would worship God, and then turn their backs on him.  It was a cycle found in the Old Testament. We see that despite all of this God still loved them in the book of Hosea. I highly recommend reading Hosea. God showed the way the Israelite's were rejecting him by using the prophet Hosea.

Hosea married a woman of the night. She left him, yet he bought her back, not to be his slave but to be his wife. This is God 100%. The Israelite's left God to worship false idols, yet he bought them back with the blood of Jesus.

Cause:
God was rejected | Hosea was rejected too.

Effect:
God bought the Israelite's back with Jesus' blood | Hosea paid a great price to take his wife back to his own house.

We see the rejection of Jesus in the story of the Man who planted a vineyard.  (Mark 12:1-11)

12 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
⁶ “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
⁷ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
⁹ “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
¹¹ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’^[a]?”

 The man came and destroyed the tenants and gave the vineyard to others. (That would be us, the gentiles, those not born as a Jew.

We also see it in Luke 17:25 that Jesus knew that he would be rejected.

But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of his generation

Jesus was rejected yet in Luke 23:34 we read Jesus' response.

Jesus said "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. 

 I don't know if you noticed this but Jesus didn't take his rejection and lash out in anger, rejecting those who rejected him. No he prayed that God would forgive them. So as hard as it is to not sulk in my room, I'm going to pray for those who reject me openly. Those who have no care of concern for how bad they hurt me.

I encourage you to take up the love of Christ and pray for those who reject you. Those who hurt you intentionally, and while you do ask God to help you forgive them. Not for their sake, but so that you can move on with peace that passes all understanding. Don't hide the Love God gave you to share, no continue to share it with others.

Dear Lord, I praise you for your amazing love, grace and forgiveness. Please help me to forgive those who reject me. Please forgive them for the pain they leave in their path, for they don't understand. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Have you ever felt rejected; did you go against your nature? Tell me about it!