Rejection is a cause of depression. To be rejected means to be thrown away as having no value or as being unwanted. We were created for acceptance, not rejection. The emotional pain of rejection is one of the deepest kinds, especially if the rejection comes from someone we love or expect to love us. "Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up" Psalm 27:10. When we are saved by Jesus from our sins, our emotions are not saved, so we may still feel many negative things. But at that moment of salvation, the time when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit. One of these fruits is self-control which will save us from negative emotions. As we learn God's Word and what it says about emotions we can begin to control the negative ones with the help of the Holy Spirit and not allow them expression through our body which now belongs to Jesus. Living by your feelings is to live in the carnal realm, when we ought to be getting our worth and value out of the fact that Jesus loved us enough to die for us. Overcoming the feeling of rejection is not easy but is perfectly possible through the love of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 3:18-19, Paul prayed that the church would know "the breadth and length and height and depth" of the love that God had for them and that they would experience it for themselves. If you start to focus on the love God shows you, you will realise how great his love is compared to the rejection. So often we let things that happen go by without realising that they are signs of God's love. Every time God gives us favour, he is showing us that he loves us. God shows his love for us in many different ways and having a revelation about his love will keep us from depression. When people reject us, Jesus takes it personally, "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16. Although rejection is an evil thing, we don't have to allow the devil to control our emotions and depress us, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21. Being mindfully joyful and smiling is a good thing as it will help overcome the evil of rejection. Society constantly impresses upon us that winning and success are everything. However, it could be said that failure is also part of true success. Humility is an essential part of our saved character, so a few failures and beatings of our pride will help instil in us a deeper humility. Failures can disappoint, discourage and depress us, but we need to realise that God will use our weaknesses, turning them into good, developing our character and making us a better person. We haven't truly failed until we stop trying, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18. Technically, it is not failure that causes depression but our attitude toward it. If we believe God is greater than our failures, then they have no power over us. "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more," Romans 5:20. Don't be depressed over weaknesses and failures. Rejoice in knowing that because of Jesus, you don't have to stay that way. People without the Lord in their lives only have depression to go to when they fail, but we can go to Jesus which is an excellent reason to rejoice. Comparing our lives with other people's lives can also cause depression. We look at other people, see what they have, own, do or don't do, but the devil never points out what they don't have, only what they do have. We need to believe that God equipped each of us with exactly what we need to fulfil His call on our lives. We look at other people as the standard for what should happen to us, but they cannot be the standard because God sets a new standard with each person. When our value as an individual is firmly rooted in Christ, we are free from the pain of comparisons and competition and this releases joy in our lives. Depression is the result of looking at what we don't have and can't do. Joy is the result of being thankful for every little thing we have and counting ourselves blessed just to be alive and to know Jesus our Lord.
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