Looming Fear of Rejection

Oh boy, Rejection, that's a dirty word. How many people live in fear of it? (I'm raising my hand right now) Everybody's reason behind their fear of rejection is probably different.

What's mine you inquire? Well, I'm glad you asked cause I'm going to tell you anyway. For a long time I've been searching for what I refer to as an "old time religon". That church hymn is playing in my head right now. I don't mean the "religon" that our granparents or even great-grandparents had. You know what I mean - the old hymns, big flowered hats, and being preached about the sins that take place 10 miles out that dirt road where they play cards and drink beer. I'm thinking more along the lines of the early church that started shortly after Christ's departure from this world. You know back before we as man had a chance to screw it all up. I've been thinking alot lately how different we do things today concerning the "church". (Which by church I mean the body of Christ)

For example when the early church would meet together it would be in each other's homes. What would they do? My recent thoughts concerning Bible studies and such following up one of my previous blogs Principles vs. Fellowship is this. Which in God's eyes is more spiritually to our benefit? When we get together with our Bible's, study books, and highlighter pens ready to go or when we get together and just simply fellowship together? During Bible studies many times we are just throwing around our bright ideas concerning God and His word and have our notebooks which we've written all our bright ideas in. It makes us feel so spiritual to sit with our Bible and all our notes and "Discuss" it all with each other.

Now on the other hand when we get together for the pure and simple reason of fellowshipping with each other what happens? We are real with eachother (for the most part). We are discussing our struggles and trials and are uplifting each other and encouraging each other. I think the Bible refers to that as exhortation. Where one or two are gathered in My Name there will I be. (I'm not sure I'm quoting that exact) Do our Bibles have to be opened in order for it to be "in His name"? I've honestly felt more spiritualy uplifted by having fellowship with a good Christian friend over a cup of coffee then I have sitting in a Bible study. When we're just being together often times doesn't our life with Christ become our topic in one way or another? And we're real about it. How many times have we been in a study and there's been somebody there we don't know and they never say anything during the study and then they leave. We didn't get to know anything about them. We were to busy being "spiritual". By having fellowship with one another we know how to help each other, pray for each other. We're not sitting in class so to speak learning how to be good Christians, we're learning by simply being.(on the job experience) I don't mean to put down Bible studies so much, but I want to be taught by somebody who's had that "on the job experience" to do so.

These are just some of the things I've been thinking about. So what does any of this have to do with my fear of rejection? I'm afraid the closer I become with Christ and the more He teaches me the difference between religon's way of doing things and His way alot of people may not like it. How many of my friends would be offended by what I wrote above I wonder? I've seen what my father had to endure in the past at the "hands" of other Christians who liked their religon's way of doing things. At one church when we left the pastor announced from the pulpit that the devil had left the church. Ouch! I'm not saying all my Christian friends are going to start calling me the devil, but I'm afraid they'll reject me in one way or another. I'm probably not giving them enough credit but who ever said fears are rational.