You must read the article before reading this post. Don’t cheat; you’re in seminary!
Hurt Feelings? You Could Take a Pain Reliever...Welcome back. Aren’t the results of that study hard to believe? Do you buy it?
Just so you know, I’m not a secret, undercover pharm rep trying to infiltrate our cohort and lead God’s people away from Jesus as their savior to worship Tylenol as their god. I find this article relevant to leadership, though, because it begs a really important question for leaders: How do you deal with rejection?
I do not have a great track record with rejection. I tend to deal with it in one of these three ways:
1. Attack: Give back what I’ve been given. It’s like tennis: as long as we keep hitting the ball back and forth, we’re playing a game.
2. Retreat: Hide. I’m on the outside and it’s all over. I’m taking my ball and going home.
3. Fortify: Build walls of protection to not get hurt again. These walls are built with different bricks: strength; humor; distance; intelligence; arrogance; anything to keep the assaulter out.
A verse (1 Peter 2:23) says about Jesus, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
Jesus handled rejection in a fourth way: he committed/entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
Rejection will come. It’s a promise. How do we deal with it like Jesus?
Got this one
ReplyDeleteThis was quite the interesting article when related to leadership. I have to say that my first reaction was confusion about how taking Tylenol to dull emotional pain relates to being a leader? Then, I read your post and it all made sense…
ReplyDeleteI think it would be awesome if I could take some pain killers every time that I am rejected to help me feel not rejected (Well I guess there are probably some sort of illicit drugs I could take but that’s not really an option for me a this point). In many ways though, I am glad that Tylenol isn’t coming to the rescue when rejection comes along. I think that there is a reason for us to go through hard things and that rejection is one of the hardest things we are going to go through in ministry. In the midst of the pain that comes from rejection, God has designed us to turn to Him, not Tylenol. He is there for us, to comfort, encourage, and if need be, to bear judgment upon the wicked sinners who hurt us in the first place (though I have not witnessed God doing this last option as much as the previous two).