By Doug Apple Manager, Wave94

Fear of Rejection

I was a new salesman, and I was afraid.  Will they talk to me or will they throw me out?  Will they listen to my legitimate offer, or will they roll their eyes, sigh deeply, and think of me as annoying?

I remember going to an appointment with a fairly large company.  As I walked up to the door, get this, there was a sign in big, bold, capital letters that said, “NO.”

{sidebar id=1}I gulped.  For an instant I felt like getting back in the car and driving off.  But I powered through, and they ended up becoming a long-term client.

One day I asked their secretary, “What is that big sign by the front door that says ‘NO.’”  Oh,” she said, “That’s to let the UPS man know if we have any pickups or not.”  And to think, I almost lost a good client due to an irrational fear of rejection.

Was I ever rejected as a salesman?  Many times.  Did it get easier?  Not really.  Then why do it?  You do it to reach the goal.  Like a running back puts up with tacklers, like a dieter puts up with hunger, there are some things we put up with to reach our goals.

One of my goals is to be a bold witness for Christ.  That brings with it the likelihood of rejection.

For example, some of my writings are posted on the website of the Tallahassee Democrat.  Now the Democrat is not exactly Christianity Today, and at times I am not well received.  This weekend someone not only hammered me for my Christian worldview, they even hammered my wife and children.  I showed my wife, and she wasn’t too happy about it.   I said, “Feel that?  That’s the feeling of being persecuted for your faith.”

]Oh, sure, I would rather not.  I would rather be witty and wonderful and have everyone adore me.  But the Lord has so convinced me of so many things, I am compelled to shout them from the housetops, even though doing so brings some rejection.  It’s not always easy, but it’s what you do when you truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A while back someone pointed me to a video on the internet.  It showed a young, female CNN reporter interviewing a minister.  The woman displayed a remarkable knowledge of the Christian faith.  In fact, as I listened to her I thought, “She sounds like a Christian.”

The minister must have thought the same thing because at one point he turned the interview around and asked the reporter a very direct question, “Are you a believer?”

To me it was as if the whole world paused.  The question hung in the air.  The reporter was suddenly in a place we all have been.  A line has been drawn in the sand and we have to choose a side, Christian….or not?

At moments like this, the fear of rejection can overwhelm you.  You don’t want to be cast aside.  You don’t want to be stereotyped or discounted.  You don’t want people to think you are a nutcase or maybe just stupid.  But if you are a true believer, then you know you should stand tall for Christ, no matter the consequences.  We can be torn between the two – stand for Christ or take the path of least rejection.

So what did the CNN reporter do?

{sidebar id=1}She stumbled.  I felt sorry for her.  Here she was, on an international platform.  With no advance warning she was put on the spot about whether or not she was a Christian.  What should she say?

If she was not a Christian, I don’t think she would have stumbled.  I think she would have simply said, “No.”  To me, the stumbling showed her internal conflict.  I think she instantly weighed her options and their consequences.  What would the others think – her boss, her viewers, her coworkers?

And then, to the question from the minister, “Are you a believer?” she replied, “I believe a lot of things.”

Hebrews chapter 13 talks about Jesus.  Verse 13 says, “Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.”

Jesus is on the other side of the line in the sand.  He is “outside the camp.”  To go to Him is to join Him outside the camp, and to join in Him in His disgrace.

Are we willing to do that, or do we fear rejection?

It comes down to our goals.  Is our goal to be accepted by the people of this world, or to stand with our Lord and Savior?  Is our goal to be at home in this world, or like it says in verse 14, are we “looking for the city that is to come”?

I don’t know about you, but I want what verse 15 describes as “the fruit of lips that confess His name.”

Yes, it is human to have a fear of rejection.  But it’s one of the things we power through to reach our goal of living for Jesus.

Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

This article originally published on March 3, 2008.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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