Feeling Rejected?  Shake That Dirt Off Your Sandal

We’ve been talking a lot lately about insecurities.  For most people it’s an ongoing struggle, myself included.  Even though I’ve grown tremendously in knowing my value and my worth and seeing myself the way God sees me, I still have feelings of insecurity from time to time.  I still have to use the same strategies and practical steps that I share with you in order to help myself.

Take this past week for example.  I had a reader unsubscribe from my blog which led to some feelings of rejection and being unwanted/unliked.  I actually had mixed feelings about it.  I was a little relieved because I don’t think this person really ever read my posts anyway, and it appeared to hurt my numbers or analytics on my subscriber list of “opened posts” (not that this is really that big of a deal, but these analytics could have bearing on my credibility with affiliates, etc.).  At the same time though, I felt a little hurt and offended.  I KNOW better than to feel this way, and I KNOW this person probably had perfectly good and acceptable reasons and never intentionally meant to hurt me.  It still just smarts a little.  It feels like somebody was saying to me, “I don’t like your stuff!”

I reached out to my sister, Shawna, to share my feelings and get some encouragement.  She replied with the perfect message that really helped me (my words in italics)…

“I understand.  That would hurt my feelings too (perfect validation here!).  But he/she can’t say they don’t like your stuff if they don’t read it, so it isn’t that.  It is probably God’s way of weeding out for you.  He hears that it upsets you that they hurt your numbers (when they subscribe but don’t open/read the e-mails)—so He did something about it.  Kind of like a protective husband or father.  He/she probably just doesn’t find or make the time and still gets the e-mails so he/she just unsubscribed.  But I do understand that it hurts or make you feel unwanted (more validation).  Know that your true core followers and readers DO get a lot from what you put or offer.  Focus on where you make a difference—‘If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.’ Matthew 10:14”

Her words were just what I needed to hear.  She also made the perfect “validation sandwich”!  My sister is very good at validation (to read more about the importance of validating others and how to do it click here).  It was also funny because I just read that same verse yesterday, and it stood out to me.  I had even written it in my quiet time journal.  She said, “See, God was already preparing you!” 🙂

Matthew Henry had some very good commentary on that verse too (his bible commentaries are some of my favorites).  Some of what I took away from reading his commentary was that I need to expect rejection from time to time.  Jesus himself was rejected in many of the places he went, and he was preparing his disciples here in Matthew 10 for the same thing.  He was basically telling them to expect rejection and then how to deal with it—to leave and shake the dust off.  More or less, he was saying, “shake that dirt off your sandal”.

“The directions given to the apostles what to do. They must depart out of that house or city. Note, the gospel will not tarry long with those that put it away from them. At their departure they must shake off the dust of their feet, [1.] In detestation of their wickedness; it was so abominable, that it did even pollute the ground they went upon, which must therefore be shaken off as a filthy thing. The apostles must have no fellowship nor communion with them; must not so much as carry away the dust of their city with them.” –Matthew Henry, from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible

I loved these statements because it was like God was saying, “Don’t waste time on those that won’t listen to you anyway.  And don’t take any of the rejection with you—leave it behind.  Walk away clean. Don’t let even their dust weigh you down.  These insecurities will weigh you down.  Shake them off and move on.” 

Now for the hilarious part of how I dealt with this perceived rejection…I had an unlikely song pop in my head both times when I read this verse:

“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14 (NIV)

As I was reading the part about ‘shake the dust off your feet’ I heard parts of the song “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” by Jay-Z running through my head.  His song says, “go on brush your shoulders off…Get, That, dirt off your shoulder…you gotta Get, That, dirt off your shoulder… you gotta Get, That, dirt off your shoulder… you gotta Get, That, dirt off your shoulder…”

I was cracking myself up, because I was sitting there picturing this music video in my head of Jesus and his disciples (in slowmo) walking down the dusty roads of Israel with Jay-Z’s music playing in the background (minus the explicit lyrics of course!).  It was like some crazy Weird Al Yankovic video was playing in my head–Jesus was Jay-Z…is that blasphemous?  And the disciples were feeling rejected (instead of like a pimp in Jay-Z’s song, heehee).

So picture this with me… Set the stage… Imagine the music in the background (If you’ve never heard the song, you can watch the clean/edited YouTube video here).  Jesus is talking to his disciples, they are walking down a dusty road, they’ve just come from a town where many welcomed them but there were a few that rejected them (picture flashbacks of this throughout the video of people yelling or sneering at them or making fun of them).  As they’re walking (again…remember this is all in slow motion—it’s more dramatic and “gangsta” that way 😉 ), Jesus is looking at them saying:

“If you’re feeling like a reject,

Go on brush your sandals off.

I’ve been rejected too,

Go on brush your sandals off.

Those people crazy, baby!

Don’t forget that I told you…

Shake that dirt off your sandals.

You gotta, Shake that dirt off your sandal.

You gotta, Shake that dirt off your sandal.

You gotta, Shake that dirt off your sandal.

You gotta, Shake that dirt off your sandal.”

Later on, Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” came to mind too.  Don’t get me started trying to imagine Jesus dancing around like Taylor Swift!

Haters gonna hate…Proverbs 9:8

Take Some Practical Steps to Shake That Dirt Off Your Sandal:

1. Listen to Jay-Z or Taylor Swift. 🙂
2. When you feel rejected, realize that sometimes it may just be perceived rejection. Most of the time, people’s true intentions are not to hurt you.
3. Lastly, don’t waste time on those who reject you, and don’t take any of the rejection with you—leave it behind. Walk away clean.  Don’t let even their dust weigh you down.  Realize that these insecurities will weigh you down.  Shake them off and move on.  Shake that dirt off your sandal!
4. If all else fails, just picture Jesus rapping in a music video with his disciples. It made me feel a lot better. 🙂

How do you “shake that dirt off your sandal”?  Leave a comment below (click on the post link to join the conversation if you’re viewing through e-mail) or take the conversation to your favorite social media channel (sharing links below). 

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