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Dear tomorrow,

I’m sorry if I’ve been ignoring your problems lately... it’s just that you are in my Father’s hands and if I’m worrying about you, that means I’m not trusting Him.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ll eventually meet and I’ll face your difficulties head on, but at that time, you won’t be “tomorrow”. You’ll be “today”.

And that’s really bad news for you, because that’s exactly what I’ve been given strength to deal with... “today”.

I’ve been given new mercies for “today”. I’ve been given grace for “today”. I’ve been given wisdom for “today”. My Father has fully equipped me for dealing with “today”.

Tomorrow, your anxiety is not my battlefield. Your worries are not my problem. Your difficulties are merely projections of what could be, and battling with you is in the devil’s domain.

Forgive me, but I’m pretty well occupied with today!

Today’s mercies are new, today’s struggles are sufficient, today’s love is ever-present, today’s joys are real, and today’s people are here.

Tomorrow, you’ll only find me on my turf and in my Father’s hands. If you want me, come and get me, today.

Sincerely,

Me

[the-sweetest-frame-blog]

Dealing With Rejection as a Christian

I could start off by asking if you’ve ever loved someone. Generic. I could ask if you’ve ever cared about someone. Boring. I won’t. I”ll assume you have.

Since you’ve loved and cared about someone, I’m going to make another assumption - you’ve been hurt. It goes with the territory. 

But, how you respond to that rejection could tell you more than you want to know about yourself. 

How so...? 

When you love someone and they hurt you, your response reveals your motives for loving them in the first place. 

How do we usually respond when our love is returned with hurt? Typically, we become resentful. Angry. Depressed. Bitter. You see, our love is contingent on reciprocation. 

It might sound harsh, but this response reveals selfishness. If you are resentful, then you weren’t loving that person just to love them, you were loving that person to be loved in return. 

When you love someone to get love in return, you’re merely using that person to love yourself. Caring about someone because of how you’re going to benefit, is caring about yourself, just with a mask. 

(Don’t stop, you’re almost to the best part!)

This is not God’s love. This type of love - this selfish, shallow love  - is not the way that God loves us. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 reads: 

But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  

I love the phrase “while we were still”. It’s one of my favorite phrases in the Bible. It means that God loves us in our sin. We were unable to do anything to earn his love.

God’s love for us is the purest, most beautiful form of love ever, because it’s free of stipulations. We don’t have to do anything - God simply loves us. 

Why?

It’s in His nature. It’s part of His character. The Bible states “God is love”, and it’s important to realize that rejection is not an alien concept to God. Humans reject Him constantly. 

God knew that people would reject Him, and yet he created them anyway. Christ knew that people would mock Him and turn away from the Gospel, and yet he died on the cross anyway. 

Our love should reflect God’s love. We should love others freely and openly, knowing full well that there will be times ahead when we’re rejected. 

How in the world do we do that? 

Great question. It all starts with salvation. Becoming aware of God’s love is this life’s most incredible epiphany. Once you see that you are sinner with a chasm of sin and vileness between you and God, and that God offers salvation to you for free, you start to become aware of his love. 

You begin to love God back. You reorder your life and your priorities because you have a budding relationship with your Creator. You become thankful, grateful, and joyful in your newfound salvation. 

What does this have to do with REJECTION? 

Everything. As we become super-aware of God’s love for us, His love fills us up and spills over into the lives of other people. THAT LOVE is not contingent on reciprocation. 

You see, when we love others with our love, we risk rejection because we’re seeking love in return. But when we love others with God’s love, we’ve already found what satisfies us and can therefore love others freely. 

Okay, it’s starting to make sense... 

When people reject us when we love them with God’s love, we continue to love them, because God continues to love us. When God is the source of our love, we are free to love others with no strings attached. Loving God through loving others removes the risk of rejection that is commonly associated with loving! 

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD... 

1) Those who approach other people looking for love and acceptance. 

and...

2) Those who approach other people already overflowing with God’s love and acceptance. 

Which type are you? You can figure out by assessing your response to rejection. 

The rejection of my love was one of the best things that ever happened to me, because it showed me how devoid I was of God’s love. 

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This is good! 

[the-sweetest-frame-blog]

The God of the Bible illuminates our minds!