rejection

Some people don't handle rejection well:

A soldier was serving overseas and far from home. He became annoyed and upset when his girl wrote breaking off their engagement and asking for her photograph back.

He went out and collected from his friends all the unwanted photographs of women that he could find, bundled them all together and sent them to her with a note which said:

"I regret that I cannot remember which one is you ... please keep your photo and return the others."

How do you handle rejection? It's not a pleasant thing, but we've all experienced it. Rejection by a loved one. Rejection by a boss. But perhaps most difficult to handle is the rejection that comes as a result of living the Christian life. We want to be accepted. We want to feel like we're "part of the crowd". But, at times, our decision to live a godly life in a godless world will not be appreciated and we will be rejected.

Notice what Peter had to say about this: "Nonbelievers think it is strange that you do not do the many wild and wasteful things they do, so they insult you." (I Peter 4:4, NCV)

The message throughout I Peter is that we should not be surprised at all by such rejection (4:12), but that it should never deter us from our commitment to live holy lives (1:15).