Have you
ever been betrayed? Betrayal is one of
the most soul crushing relationship experiences. Betrayal requires a deeper intensity of
forgiveness. This is because betrayal leaves a silent, unrelenting and devastating
effects on your soul. It is more severe
when the betrayal is inflicted by a close friend, spouse, or intimate family,
member more so than an organization. Betrayal
sinks your soul into a black hole forcing your heart to concede the harsh
reality that you can no longer trust a person or organization that you once
relied on for a sense of security. The experience
of betrayal may lead you to discover your blind-spot about how much you placed
your identity in this person or place. Betrayal
forces you to recognize your world is far more dangerous than you previously
assumed. That is why it rocks you to
your core in a way that other disappointments do not. It overwhelms you like an emotional tsunami
knocking you off your feet, weakened and overwhelmed by the disaster betrayal
created. You cannot reason with a
betrayer. You are completely powerless
over the betrayal that is inflicted on you. Betrayers will assure you to your
face and stab you in the back the instant you turn away. God knows how devastating betrayal can be but
He still holds you responsible to keep living out His purpose for your life, in
spite of what your soul is having to endure.
He knows the devastating power of betrayal on a soul, but He directs you
to keep moving deeper into your true identity and stay on course with His
purpose for your life in spite of your anguish.
David had
to do it (Psalm 109 describes the betrayal of a close friend) and even with his
own son Absalom. Betrayal is not a
rationale to give up and hide in a ditch somewhere. No one lives this out more clearly than Jesus
with Judas perhaps the most famous betrayer of all time. First
of all, each disciple was clueless about whom Jesus spoke when He kept saying
that He would be betrayed. Betrayal is
intimate and often hidden for a long time.
The person who has been betrayed does not speak it from the mountaintop
and even if they do, eventually people stop listening or stop caring. Like Judas, the best betrayers are good at
hiding in public. He appeared to love
and support Jesus as much as each of them.
How do you look into the very eyes of Jesus, but give your heart to
Satan?
Jesus
knew from the beginning that He would be betrayed. This betrayal is an important lesson for our
lives. Like Cain, who had the devil
crouching at his door is an example, so is Judas. Jesus teaches us that betrayal is troubling
and difficult, but a reality of living in this fallen world. Jesus shows us that we cannot allow the acts
of a betrayer to keep us from God’s purpose for our lives. We don’t have to have all of our
relationships right in order to carry out God’s mission.
Jesus had the salvation of the whole
world on His agenda. He had called
twelve men to train and send out at part of the divine plan. The same night that He washed His betrayer’s
feet He found Himself eager to share the first communion meal at the same time
that He was troubled because one He loved would betray His love. Betrayal is so devastating because it can
only happen within an intimate relationship, but it does not have to undo
us. All who belong to Jesus will never
be betrayed. He is with us to the end of
the age. The lesson from betrayal is
that love endures betrayal and God’s purposes must take priority over the
misery in your soul.
In John 13:22 we learn: “The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was
speaking?” Each one asked if it was he who would betray
Jesus. The lesson from Judas also drives
us to consider his heinous act. Each
disciple saw himself as capable of betraying Jesus. None of them did, but perhaps that is because
they daily reconnected their hearts and purpose to God. It gave them the strength to face any
betrayers they were asked to deal with in their lifetimes.
Copyright © 2018.
Deborah R Newman.
teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights
Reserved.
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