Have you ever experienced rejection? Most people have! Some have a "thick skin" and can easily shake it off. Others are more sensitive and feel the sting! This has been an ongoing lesson for me. I'm not among those with a "thick skin". As the year came to a close, there were a few incidents that triggered feelings of rejection. Some were personal and some had to do with work.
The other day, I was catching up with a friend over lunch, she asked how I was doing and what I had been up to lately. I retold a story of rejection that had only popped up a month prior. I gave her my side in great detail and the shock I felt at this rejection from someone I hardly knew. I had been kind and in turn, treated poorly!
She did not miss a beat! She said, "A servant is not above his Master!" There it was, blunt as can be! The bold truth straight to my face did not have any sting in it. It came with as much love as conviction. She was right! She went on to share that when we experience rejection, we share in Jesus' experience and become like Him. I wish I could say my response to the rejection was like Jesus. He's still working on me, though! He must have been trying to get the message across because that very morning I had read the same verse and did not apply it to that situation. The next morning scrolling through a thread, again was that same verse!! This time, it really caught my attention. I want to become more like Jesus. Now I can see rejection in a new light. This is exactly what Jesus went through and we are not above Him. We can identify with Him even if it's on a different level. We can become more like Him!
"The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." Matthew 10:24
Leigh Aten
Brownsville, Texas
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