Our risks of the emotional wounds of rejection are no longer limited to our small circle of peers but now can come by way of social media platforms, and technology as well. With each of us being connected to hundreds or thousands of people who might chose to ignore our texts, posts, or profiles-we are more susceptible to feeling rejected and alone. These are only minor rejections, we are still vulnerable to serious rejections like our spouses leaving us or being released from a job, or ostracized by our families-this pain we feel can be devastating. Whether the experience of rejection is small or large, it always hurts and it is usually more painful than we expected it to be. I’ve always asked myself the question, why are people so bothered if they don’t receive a “like” on social media? Why does it affect us so much? Most won’t say it affects them, but internally, it does.
A research study was done on the human brain and scientists found that the same areas of our brain become activated when we recall rejection as well as physical pain. Rejection damages our mood and self-esteem which can impact our well-being. The feelings of loneliness and rejection has kept so many people in their own prison because they are so captivated by the opinions of other people and will not accept themselves. They look at the online lives of what seem perfect and envy others. Here is the good news. God wants to love you through your pain. God has accepted you before any man or woman can reject you! God will never reject you. He knows your weaknesses and flaws and He still choses to love you. God accepts you just where you are. God sees you through the blood of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died for us, is when all of those bad things were wiped away. Our only job is to accept Jesus in our heart and then develop a relationship with God through Jesus.
The more we fall in love with Jesus, the less these emotional wounds will hurt. The faster we will heal from our pain. The more we focus on knowing that God has accepted us, the less we will care about who doesn’t like our posts. God is concerned about your heart-motive. Which is the reason behind why we do the things we do. The average person will say “well, I’m a good person, I just do things I shouldn’t sometimes”. God knows we will mess up. It is in the human nature to mess up. But one thing God will never do, is throw our mess-ups in our face. He will never condemn us for our wrongdoings. He will forgive us and accept us over and over and over again. There is nothing we can do that will ever separate us from the love of God. Unlike, people. When we offend someone or mess-up, our peers have the tendency to hold on to our mistakes and occasionally bring them up. With God, we do not have the fear of being embarrassed about a mistake we made. We will always be comforted in the presence of God. Most of us have lived our lives on a never ending cycle of trying to please others so they won’t reject us. We all are created to love and therefore we all have a need to be loved and accepted. People usually love you based on what you can do for them, what you have done for them, or your performance in life.
If you mess up and do not do what they want, they reject you. This is how most people love others. But once an imperfect person accepts and experience the love of God, they want to give that same kind of love to other people. The God-kind of love is not based on what you do or do not do. It is merely based on a decision by God to love you regardless. Unconditionally, no matter what your mistakes are. If people around you are rejecting you, I say-get around people who have experienced the love of God and are giving that type of love to other people. If you have rejected other people-forgive yourself, because God has. God wants to heal you from your wounds of rejections and past hurts. Matthew 11:28-30 says this: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (MSG). Your healing from rejection starts with you knowing and believing that God has accepted you and God loves you. It’s time that you release yourself from that prison and live your life out loud in total freedom, self-confidence, and love.
Shelle Amey
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