Charles Dickens wrote, “In the world of little children, the greatest hurt of all is injustice.” To be treated badly is a tragedy, but it happens. To think we are bad because of the way someone unjustly treated us is worse, but it happens.
Rudy GrayRejection is one of the most painful emotional experiences we can encounter. The power of the rejection people feel is in direct proportion to the importance of the one who rejected them initially.
In a world where we experience injustice, wrong, evil, etc., we can expect disappointments and difficulty. We cannot get through this life without being hurt. But we can do something about the hurts that linger in our souls. We can forgive! That means we have to face the hurt honestly and give the offender something they do not deserve: forgiveness. In fact, if they deserved it, they would not need to be forgiven. Forgiveness is for people who do not deserve to be forgiven.
Isn’t it interesting to observe a building, room, or even a piece of furniture that we thought was so large in our childhood and discover in our adulthood that it was really pretty unimpressive and even small? An emotional hurt inflicted in childhood can grow as we grow up. It can affect us in ways we never imagined. When we do the hard work of facing the hurt from our childhood in the light of who we are in Christ and who we are as adults today, we will see it differently and even courageously. From that initiative, we can forgive and with the forgiveness we will find personal and spiritual freedom.
Early traumas and rejections are powerful, but by the grace of God we can move to a place of healing as well as spiritual and emotional health. Often the hurts we hold onto and nurse become larger and larger weights. As Christians, we have been called to run the race of life. We will not be very effective until we lose the excess weight or encumbrance. According to Hebrews 12:1-2, this better way of running the race begins when we, by faith, fix our eyes on Jesus Christ. In him, we are forever loved, accepted and forgiven. When we know that, a great load is lifted. The race never becomes easy, but it does become easier when we lighten our internal load through practicing forgiveness. God forgives us, and we can forgive the hurts inflicted on us. Life is too short and the race is too exciting to do less.