Rejection: What If I Can't Accept Myself

I've been thinking about what I wrote yesterday about rejection.
It seems so cut and dried to me to think that (1) God loves me, (2) He wiped away my guilt, (3) He accepts me.
For many people who have experienced utter rejection all of their lives, the concept that God, Himself, loves them is quite foreign. They, in fact, feel like no one could possibly be accepting of them for any reason. Especially God.
The reality is, though, that God isn't like all the other people in the world who have been critical and narrow-minded.
He knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us. He loves us just the way we are. In fact, he's crazy about us. He willingly accepts us into his family and makes us comfortable at His table.

• "For the Lord will not reject His people; He will never forsake His inheritance."  Psalm 94:14
• "In the presence of my enemies he prepares a place for me at His table." Psalm 23:5

He is protective of us. So much so that he has commanded that all believers accept us and, I might add, that we accept ourselves.

• "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:37
• "Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you His Holy Spirit." I Thessalonians 4:8

So the next time you are feeling particularly pitiful about yourself -- that you don't deserve God's or anyone else's love or acceptance -- just remember this. Christ loved you so much that he died for you. If you have given your life to Him, He has redeemed you -- paid the price for your freedom. Sometimes that freedom is from yourself.