We have all faced rejection at some point in our lives and highly likely we will all face it again. Whether it’s a job opportunity we missed out on, unrequited love, friendships we didn’t mesh with or a team we didn’t make – rejection hurts and if we’re not careful it can shape us.

 Jesus’ instruction to his disciples as he sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God; don’t carry the rejection with you– shake off the dust from your feet and move on to the next place. Christ himself, who would be so cruelly rejected and his message for salvation rejected not just by the people of his time but for the generations to follow, tells us to shake it off.

Pastor and author John Bevere said, ‘Don’t carry rejection, if you carry it, you will have behaviour that is reactive not proactive.’ When we hold onto our rejections, we let that ‘no’ continue to influence us: we are reactive, defensive, distrusting. It also occupies us and by holding on to the rejection, what are we preventing ourselves from receiving? And what do we fail to see?

‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’ (John 15:16)

Jesus chose us. He has not rejected us and never will. Is there a rejection you have experienced in your life? Then it’s time to let it go. Time to shake it off, to move on and move towards the one who chose you first.

+Jesus, bring your healing touch, your healing words into those parts of our hearts that have experienced rejection and brokenness. Reveal yourself to us in those moments and help us see the ways, the times, that you chose us. Amen.

By Nattasha Mierendorf