No More Fear

One major reason why people hesitate to embrace their uniqueness and share it with others is the fear of being rejected if they do. I believe that Satan uses rejection—possibly more than anything else—to try to stop us from making progress, doing what God wants us to do, and living as our authentic selves. Rejection is extremely painful, and those who have experienced it work hard to avoid it in the future…which is exactly what I did for much of my life.

Because I had experienced so much rejection growing up, it became rooted in my soul. As a result, I constantly braced myself for rejection and even imagined I was being rejected when I wasn’t. For instance, the night Dave proposed to me, he said, “I want to talk to you about something.” I was sure he wanted to break up with me. I always expected the worst, so imagine my surprise when he asked me to marry him instead!

Living with a fear of rejection infiltrates every area of our lives. I can still remember one particular afternoon when Dave was leaving to play golf. That day, I was feeling sorry for myself because he was going to have fun and I wanted him to stay home with me instead. I actually began crying, but when he asked if I wanted to talk about anything, I told him, “No, not now.” As we talked about the situation later, he asked me why I didn’t simply ask him to stay home. I wasn’t sure myself until God spoke to my heart and showed me that I didn’t ask because I was afraid Dave would say no. I was afraid of being rejected.

I wonder how often the fear of being rejected prevents us from doing what we’d like to do or saying what we truly want to say? I’m sure it’s more often than we realize!

When you’re driven by the fear of rejection, you exist in the shadows of life because it seems safer to hide than live in the open and be honest about your desires and needs. You could walk into a roomful of people and join in a conversation, but if you fear rejection, you won’t take the chance of being rejected. Instead of being fully engaged or saying what’s on your heart, you’ll sit back quietly and wait for someone to make you feel accepted before you believe that you really belong there.

You may have been rejected for a promotion at work, by someone you were in a relationship with, or for an opportunity to do something you’ve dreamed of doing, but there is one thing you can be sure of: God will never reject you (John 6:37). His love is everlasting, and no matter how many times we fail or are rejected by people, He will never turn us away when we come to Him.

In fact, there is only one infallible lesson we can learn that will make us immune to the agony of rejection: God loves us unconditionally. According to Ephesians 3:17, we are to be deeply rooted in God’s love. Anything that is deeply rooted cannot be uprooted by the storms of life. When our roots are in Christ and in His love and acceptance, we can withstand rejection. We may not like being rejected, but rejection will not defeat us. As Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (NKJV). And the psalmist writes in Psalm 118:6 (NIV), “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

It takes time for our old thinking to be renewed and for us to learn to think as beloved children of God, but it can happen if we stick to believing God’s Word rather than our own conflicted feelings. We have to take chances and step out into the world, realizing that everyone won’t accept us, but keeping in mind that we already have the acceptance of the most important person in our lives—Jesus.

_{Adapted from the book Authentically, Uniquely You by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2021 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.}