Decide Today What You'll Say Then

Do you remember The Grinch? Yeah, the one who stole Christmas! The green one. The mean one. I've learned a few lessons from him and the town that he grew to hate. You see, the Who's rejected the  odd, young Grinch. They laughed at him. They made fun of him. They rejected him and because of it, he grew to hate Christmas.

Have you ever met anyone that seems to push people away before they have a chance to get too close? Do you know someone that manipulates each and every situation so that they are portrayed in the best light? Maybe you struggle with feelings that if people knew the real you, they wouldn't accept you. If so, you may be dealing with a root of rejection.

Every person deals with rejection. It could be a parent that left home and you always wondered if you could have done something to make them stay. It may be that little league coach that relegated you to the bench because you weren't as talented as the other kid. Maybe you were infatuated with that beautiful young lady but she didn't reciprocate those feelings. Everyone experiences rejection at some point. But how do we handle it? Do we assess it and move on or do we constantly mull over it, see it as a personal attack and take it to heart? The way we handle rejection will reveal whether we will allow rejection to take root in our heart or not.

There are a lot of people in the Bible that experienced rejection. Adam was rejected when he was forced out of the garden of Eden. Cain was rejected when his offering was rejected. Ishmael was rejected because he wasn't recognized as Abraham's promised child. It is Joseph, however, that impressed me in his handling of rejection.

Joseph was the youngest and favorite son in his family. If that wasn't enough to cause tension in the family, Joseph had a dream that everyone of his brothers would eventually bow down to him. Once he told them his dream, they hated him even more and decided to sell him into slavery! Talk about rejection issues. Then he was rejected again by Potiphar after being falsely accused of inappropriate behavior and thrown into prison. He was also rejected by the two prisoners that he has interpreted dreams for. Joseph was rejected many times over and could have allowed it to take root in his heart. He could have let it discourage him so that he became bitter and angry. But he didn't.

If you study the Joseph way you'll find that every time he was rejected, he talked about God. At some point in his life, Joseph decided that his conversation was important in keeping him free from rejection's root. He decided that when he had an opportunity to be offended, he would talk about God.

So I encourage you to DECIDE TODAY WHAT YOU'LL SAY THEN!

If you nurse your hurt, it will take root in your heart. If you continually talk about your offense, it will take root in your heart. If you lay in bed at night and think about meditate on your rejection, it will take root in your heart.

Decide today what you'll say then! Make a choice that you will not allow your hurt, offense, or rejection get down in you. Think about now what you'll think about then. Be like Joseph and turn your focus to God. Let Him guide your thoughts and your words.

Don't be caught off guard. Decide today what you'll say then.