F.E.A.R. Rejected #RecklessLove
Rejection.
No one likes rejection. But we face it again and again. Think about any wild two-year-old kid. They face rejection every few minutes.
“No, you can’t eat dessert first.” “Stop jumping on the bed!” “No, we’re not going to McDonald’s this late.” “No, no, no!”
Rejection stings a bit, whether you’re two or twenty-two.
I’ve struggled with the fear of rejection. Being vulnerable isn’t easy. When you’re vulnerable, you are opening yourself up to rejection.
Over the past few months, God keeps bringing up the issue of vulnerability to me. My fear of rejection keeps overpowering my heart. I have to make the decision, again and again, to be vulnerable, to trust in God even when I can’t control the outcome of what will happen to my heart.
But it’s beautiful to think about Jesus and how He fully embodied the vulnerability and recklessness of love.
He came to live and die for us. He came though He knew many would reject Him and few would choose Him.
Jesus still would have died even if He knew no one would ever believe, ever thank Him, ever love Him back. He would have died anyway to give us the choice to reject His love. Because that’s what love is—a complete and total sacrifice of self, where all pride is stripped away and only vulnerability remains.
Love dies willingly to buy back life even if those who are dead refuse to claim a free and eternal gift.
Love gives everything when nothing is returned.
It’s Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! What a perfect time to remember this. To remember that the King of everything allowed Himself to come as an innocent and vulnerable baby, a human who would endure the worst of mankind and still choose to sacrifice Himself for us all.
What we’ve done to God from the very start is shameful. We deny His goodness. We forget His love. We run from His plans for us. Yet He loves us recklessly.
While in France, we sang Reckless Love by Cory Asbury often. I fell in love with this song. The words reached right into me and the truth of them stayed there.
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
God’s reckless love for us enables us to push past the fear of rejection. If you truly want to love you must be vulnerable. You must be willing to not fear rejection but to instead face it, if or when it comes.
No matter what happens, no matter who lets you down, God will never reject you. His fierce, fierce love fights for us and chases us down. My heart is at peace because my heart belongs to the One who created it.
What fears I do face, He frees me from. What rejection I’ve encountered cannot take away from the overwhelming, reckless love of a God who sought me out and redeemed me, a God who will never fail me.
As Christmas steadily approaches, I pray that you will find freedom from the fear of rejection. I pray that together we’ll be vulnerable enough to risk our hearts the same way Jesus made Himself vulnerable for our love.
