Rocks of Rejection,
Gems of Grace
By Tammy Tkach
Sticks and stones may break my
bones, but words will never hurt me.” We all learned this as children, but also
quickly learned it wasn’t true. Names do hurt and the hurt can stay with you
for a long time. How many of you can remember the childhood taunts you endured?
Probably every single one of us has clear memories of pain caused by name
callers. They felt like rocks of rejection.
Rocks of rejection come in many forms and sizes. The boulders take the form of
being turned down for a job, a marriage proposal, a promotion or any time one’s
hopes are dashed.
The Bible is full of stories of rejection. The first one, even though
instigated by Satan through deception, was when Eve rejected God’s warning and
ate from the tree.
All through the Old Testament we read of rejection after rejection: humanity
rejecting God, and God reaching out, seemingly to no avail. God gave Israel the
Old Covenant, but they had to obey the laws to be accepted by him. They
continually disobeyed and were punished but still God offered his love and
acceptance if they would only meet his conditions, which they never did.
We see stories of rejection in the New Testament as well, from the Samaritan
woman who was rejected by a whole town, to Mary Magdalene, who couldn’t mingle
with polite society, to the woman asking for crumbs at Jesus’ table.
Jesus faced the ultimate rejection when he was unfairly tried and sentenced to
death.
Through God’s kindness and love in giving us his Son, we have a place to go for
rock removal. Through grace we’re forever accepted through faith in Jesus.
Ephesians 1:3-6 assures us of this acceptance: “Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by
which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (NKJV, emphasis mine).
This gem of grace has made a big difference in my life. Before, I was not sure
of my salvation. I worried I wasn’t obeying well enough or overcoming enough. I
was insecure and wanted attention and acceptance but sometimes went about
getting it in the wrong way. I was sometimes needy and high maintenance.
Acceptance by Jesus has taken care of my uncertainties and insecurities (not
entirely, I must admit, because I’m still learning) and I’m now able to focus
more on others.
I don’t carry that bag of rocks around anymore. Instead I have a velvet bag
with shiny, beautiful gems, lightweight, easy to carry and so much more
valuable than diamonds. Are you still carrying around rocks of rejection? If
so, give them to Jesus at the throne of grace and pick up some gems of grace in
return.
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The October letter is still available. You may access all of my letters, by clicking on last month's letter and scrolling down the archive list of letters. Enjoy! As always, you may use any or all of my letters in any way you would like, just please give me credit for writing them.)
Tammy is a Women's Ministry Support Coordinator for the Worldwide Church of God. She sees encouragement to recognize and use their gifts as the greatest need of the WCG women and feels God has opened the door for her to speak, write and "be there" to fulfill that need. She is the editor of Connections, a journal for WCG women in ministry. She writes articles for the journal as well as other publications.
Tammy and her husband Joseph have been married since 1980 and have two children, Joe III and Stephanie. She enjoys gardening, cross stitch, walking, reading, golf and bowling. Her main hobby is rubber stamping.
