I came across the quote a couple months ago, in Paul Anderson Walsh’s book, The Bonsai Conspiracy,
It is hard to be who I am because it does not seem to be what anybody wants. ((Paul Anderson Walsh, The Bonsai Conspiracy (Sao Paulo: Grapho, 2006))
When I contacted Paul to inquire about the source of the quotation, he could not remember where he picked it up along the way, possibly from his experience in the secular business world. It had simply become an expression of who he was, sharing that he had been raised as an orphan and struggled with “acceptance issues” for the first forty years of his life.
I, too, have lived the profound truth encapsulated in this quotation, so I offer it to you out of the depths of my own struggle and search for acceptance within the ekklesia of Jesus Christ.
Bill,
This quote sums up my feelings so much of the time. I have experienced rejection from many different places. One of the things that I think we must guard against is the insidious bitterness that such rejection can engender in our hearts. We must be careful that we don’t begin to stand against what we once stood for, because of the rejection of those who have stood for the same things. Bitterness can do funny things with our heart and our head. It can be present, undetected by us, in our own hearts.
I long to be accepted by someone. But I am thankful that because I am in Christ, I have been “accepted in the beloved”, whether a preacher or a group of preachers accept me or not, or a group of Christians accepts me or not.
Blessings,
Aaron
Aaron, I appreciate your thoughts on the quote! As you know, I like to ask questions, debate the merits of ideas, propose alternative viewpoints, and sometimes play the Devil’s advocate to make a point. It’s how I learn and I believe it’s an effective method of keeping myself and others on their toes; however, it makes a lot of people uncomfortable when I get too close to their sacred cows.
Let me give an example. I once played host for a “big name” preacher for a series of meetings and we spent a LOT of time together over the course of his visit. One day, we were talking about one of his messages and I simply asked a question about one of his sermon points. I wanted to know why he emphasized something so strongly when it was not supported by the passage, at least not in a prescriptive way. I valued his reputation as an expositor, but it was such an obvious focus in his sermon that I thought that I was missing something. Well…it soon became very clear that this brother was not comfortable answering anyone’s questions.
So for me, the quote really hits the mark, “It is hard to be who I am because it does not seem to be what anybody wants.”
You’re right about our acceptance with the Lord Jesus: it’s absolutely complete and unconditional! By the way, I haven’t rejected the beliefs that I hold in common with the brother in my illustration, just because I felt rejected and belittled by him. It would take much more than rejection to make me jettison my beliefs; in fact, I would need to be convinced by the teachings of Scripture.