On Being Accepted

When you go out into the world, how are you received?

Are you accepted?  Are you treated with respect?

Or do people keep away, laugh, whisper things about you?

Is there anything worse than being rejected, being ignored, being treated like you don't exist?

For some, being hated is better than being ignored.  That could be a reason why we have so many bullies.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.’ - John 13:20

At the last supper, Jesus charged his disciples to go out into the world and in doing so, they would be accepted just as he was.  He knew many would reject them, so he had told them to shake the dust off their heels and move on if that happened.

They should know, though, that they were being accepted not in their name alone, but in the name of God.

If they were rejected, those who rejected them would be doing that to God as well.

If you are the victim of a bully, does it help to know how you are being treated is how that person is treating God?  It would if the bully cared about God, right?

Yesterday in our Bible Study, an eight year old girl who was visiting with her family joined us and taught us something about how it feels to be bullied.

She brought up the topic because we were discussing Job and how Job felt about the wicked.  Her bully, she said, was being wicked.

What surprised me was that she had repeatedly told the teacher about the bully's comments and actions, but the teacher has done nothing to intervene.

In a very real way, the teacher is rejecting the girl, while the bully is humiliating her.

Is this how we treat each other?

If we truly believe that we go into the world as Jesus did, that we take God with us when we go, and that those who accept us accept God through us, we can deal with rejection.  But more importantly, we carry with us a message for all.

Regardless of how you treat me, God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.  

That is a powerful statement.  It may not work.  It probably won't change the behavior of a bully, at least not right away.  Those who feel rejected and lash out to others in anger and frustration, though, need to hear that God loves them, just the way they are.

He loves all of us.  Some of us know that.  We should tell the others.

More to come...