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?
