Tag Archives: rejected

Delighting in God's love, God's Eternal Purposes, Orienting my life from Heaven

What in the World am I doing for Heaven’s Sake?

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“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”  Philippians 3:20

Heavenly Minded

Recently I was re-minded that focusing on heaven is tremendously beneficial. Since, as believers in Jesus Christ, we’ve been raised up with Him and seated in heavenly places, orienting our lives from there can bring great comfort. In these troubled, unsteady times, we need a stable foothold.

When temporal trials bombard our souls, heaven can seem far away.  As we continue to fight through obstacles in our daily battles, how do we maintain an eternal perspective? How do we remain courageous and encourage those around us to do the same?

Embracing God’s Greater Story

One way to remain courageous when our hearts feel gloomy is to trust God’s higher purposes for our lives. He wants what’s best for us and our best doesn’t always include smooth, happy circumstances.

Jesus warned us about troubles in this life, but told us to take courage because He’s overcome the world.[1]

Even in extremely painful situations, we’re to trust. Jesus has promised never to leave us. The harder thing are, the deeper we cling to Him. He is our comfort. He’s entrusted us with each life situation. Nothing is a surprise to Him.  In our difficulties dependence can grow and idols can be surrendered.

Delighting in His Love

Another way to remain heavenly minded and to have an eternal affect on others is to trust and walk in the love of Christ.

God’s love for us, in Christ Jesus, is unchanging and beyond comprehension. When we feel rejected and unloved by people, the love of our Creator overshadows it all. Jesus tells us that He loves us as much as God the Father loves Him. He tells us to remain in His love by loving others as He’s loved us.  As this happens, His full joy is released in our lives. [2]

God’s love doesn’t fit in our minds. It’s everlasting[3] and beyond our knowledge.[4] Regardless of what’s coming against you right this moment, trust in God’s love for you. The love of Christ delights us like nothing on earth ever can.

Prayer

Lord,  since I’ve been raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places, I’m simultaneously positioned in two places. The more I orient my life from your purposes of conforming me to Christ, clarity grows. The more I trust in, rest in and delight in Your unchanging love, the more my heart is filled with Joy. Please help me be heavenly minded during the days of my life that I might be a blessing to all you bring my way.

Amen.

[1] John 16:33

[2] John 15:9-12

[3] Jeremiah 31:3

[4] Ephesians 3:14-19

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

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 Novels by the Author:

Rob Buck

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?  Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

My place of solitude

True Value

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For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority (Colossians 2:9-10 NASB)

Matters of the Heart

Funny how eternal truths seem solid one moment, but slip away the next. This happened to me the other day concerning my value in Christ. In my mind, the matter was settled, but my feelings told me otherwise. In my journey with Jesus, as I seek to surrender more and more of my heart to Him, light is being shed on lies deep within. I may know God’s truth about myself mentally, but emotionally, under layers of stuffed feelings, fortified falsehoods need to be destroyed.

God is in the business of exposing and rooting out lies we’re believing and agreeing with. When clarity comes, we can dis-agree with cruel, irrational thoughts about ourselves and agree with what God says about us. This process is hard, but yields the joyous freedom God desires for each of us.

Shaky Ground

A few days ago, without warning, the ground of my emotional wellbeing crumbled beneath me. I felt like an orc in the last battle of Return of the King, when great fissures opened and the earth swallowed them up. It took me completely by surprise. Outwardly, I had a seemingly innocent conversations. But something said, set off a flood of confusing, negative emotions. I felt real discouraged, and I wasn’t really sure why.

Fortunately, I had some free time right after it happened. This allowed me to grab my journal and try and process my feelings. I made my way to one of my favorite get-away spots in the woods beyond our property. The place I had in mind was remote enough to insure an extended time of solitude.

I’m learning not to brush negative feelings aside. They’re like warning lights on the dash board indicating something needs attention under the hood.

I sat down against a tree overlooking a small waterfall.

Lord, please help me understand what I’m feeling.

Wading Through Feelings

Understanding deep emotions, especially negative ones, is something I’m learning how to do. At an early age, I wasn’t sure what to do with feelings concerning my parent’s divorce, so I didn’t deal with them very well. I processed what I could and moved on best I knew how. This didn’t leave me very emotionally healthy. But God is a Healer. He wants me whole. He’s showing me that feelings shouldn’t be ignored. If I understand them, and deal with the negative ones, I can experience the freedom God wants for me.

I look up and see a deer staring at me from across the creek. It can’t figure out what I am. I wonder if it thinks I’m a funny looking bush. I remain motinless. After a while, it wanders deeper into the woods.

Lord, I feel like a failure. I jot down in my journal why I feel like a failure in a specific area.

Logically, I know failing and being a failure is not the same thing, but my feelings scream otherwise. Failing is a part of the journey of life for all of us. It’s disappointing, but it doesn’t make me a failure. I reason with myself.

What is it Lord? Why do I feel like a failure?

I wrote:  Value – tossed aside like garbage.

These are raw feelings I’d never expressed. Clarity comes. When I fail, it makes me feel worthless, good for nothing, rejected.

Wow. I’m not cutting myself much of a break. Why Lord?

Mixed up Value System (From my journal)

Robby. You’ve believed your value as a person is inseparably intertwined with what you do. When you fail, you don’t see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. You’re afraid it means you’re a failure,

Yes Lord. I see it. Failing does feels like I’m a failure, worthless, tossed aside. But I can’t be perfect can I?

You don’t have to be. I’ve done it all. Before you took a breath, I loved you enough to die for you and adopt you as my son.[1] My love for you is out of this world, sourced in eternity, unaffected by anything in time or space.[2] You can’t change how I feel about you. You can never be worthless because I indwell you.[3] I created you in my Son Jesus and saved you by my grace for good works, but they were never the measure of your worth.[4]

Prayer

Lord, I see it much clearer now. You’ve taken me deep to show me how messed up my value system has been. Wow. I didn’t realize it, but failing has caused me to fear rejection. How messed up is that? But my feelings revealed my true beliefs which you want to expose. You desire to slather your love and grace upon every deep wound. Thank you so much for not giving up on me.

You care so much for my freedom and joy. You won’t relent until every lie has been exposed and swallowed up by your Truth.

Please continue to uncover deep lies I’m agreeing with that I might dis-agree with them and stand on Your truth. Amen. 

Walking in the Joy of Loving without Fear of Failure

I’m realizing  God wants to take me deeper into these feelings of rejection when I fail and free my heart even more.

However, understanding  my performance never affects my value,  and allowing God’s love for me to determine who I am,  is already bringing  joy and freedom.

I’m learning to rest in what God’s done for me and not fear failure. This frees me to love the people God places in my path.

Laying aside concerns for how I’m performing brings lightness. Since the matter of my true value  has been settled forever, a childlike wonder and joy is emerging in the moments of my day.

[1] Ephesians 1:5-6

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] Galatians 2:20

[4] Ephesians 2:8-10

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

Loved by God, Loved in spite of how we feel

When I Don’t Feel God’s Lovingkindness (Republished In the Moments)

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O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;  My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.  Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.  Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.  Psalm 63:1-3

As the sun warms my face, on a brisk, fall morning in the mountains of North Carolina, I read about God’s lovingkindness toward us.

David was in the wilderness when he penned the Psalm 63 and he compared his longing soul to dry, cracked soil. He was in desperate need of God’s presence, His Rivers of Living Water. (John 7:37-38)

I can relate to David’s desperate longings for God, but what catches my attention is the phrase “lovingkindness.”  David says it’s better than life itself.

Lovingkindness. What does it really mean? I’ve heard it said that if love is compared to a piece of freshly baked bread, slathered with butter. Lovingkindness is like adding strawberry preserves to what’s already succulently delicious.

The Hebrew word used here means goodness, faithfulness and kindness.

Jesus tells us God’s love for us is as great as the Father’s love for Him. (John 15:9) Paul uses words about God’s love for us which conger images of an ocean of love, beyond our understanding. (Ephesians 3:16-21)

When life is good, I can recognize God’s lovingkindness. However, in hard times, I don’t always feel loved, mostly because I don’t feel lovable.

Two situations come to mind.

  • when I fail
  • when I’m hurt.
When I Fail

I hate failing. I’ve had failures as a husband, as a father, as a son, as a brother, as an employee and an employer, as a friend, etc. Failure can cause me to feel unlovable. How can I be loved when I’ve performed so poorly?

As I write, the Holy Spirit reminds me:

I’ve been united with Christ in his death and resurrection. (Romans 6) I’ve been raised with Christ and seated with him in heavenly places. (Ephesians 2:6) In spite of my failures, I’m perfectly loved because my life is hidden with Christ (Colossians 3:3-4) Even though, in this temporal realm, I’m far from perfect, God loves me as much as He loves Jesus (John 15:9).

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Colossians 1:21-22

In Christ, I’m holy, blameless and beyond reproach. When I see this, and believe it by faith, I begin to feel God’s lovingkindness, even in my failures. There are truths about me in Christ which can’t change because they are eternal.

When I’m Hurt

Another time I have a hard time embracing God’s lovingkindness for me is when I’ve been hurt. Being hurt can cause deep emotional pain, making me feel rejected and unlovable, even by God.

When I invite God into my pain, I do sense His presence and comfort.  I’m learning not to rely on the love of others for my value.

What helps is to realize the surpassing greatness of God’s love compared to even our dearest earthly relationships.  All human relationships must be secondary to our relationship with God. In fact, in Luke 14:26 Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Compared to God’s great love, human love is like hate. God’s lovingkindness far exceeds all human affection. When I get a grasp of the expanse of His surpassing love for me, I’m filled with Joy, even in the most difficult human hurts.

More and more I seek love only from Him. This frees me up to love others for their sake, not for what I can get out of the relationship.

Better Than Life

God’s love overshadows everything about us. And when life is hardest, His lovingkindness shines even brighter. As a diamond sparkles against a dark background, God’s love is more brilliant in our darkest days.

Prayer: Lord, I rest in your love right now. I desire to walk in your love throughout the day. Even when I go through hard times, your love shines brighter and brighter. You are faithful. You are good. You are kind.

You love me.

Your lovingkindness is everlasting. (Psalm 136)

Your lovingkindness is better than life.

Please keep me aware of you and your love moment by moment.

Amen