There aren’t many things worse than being BETRAYED. And, in almost every case, the pain transcends the act itself because it brings a passenger along for the ride—feeling vulnerable to being hurt.
Betrayal is a TRUST-BUSTER. And the closer we are to the betrayer, the more it hurts to be betrayed and have our trust bond broken.
Jesus knew all about betrayal. The fall of Judas could have made Jesus bitter and vindictive, but that didn’t happen, of course. It was the opposite. Even after receiving a kiss from the traitor, he addressed Judas as “friend” (Matthew 26:50).
Jesus teaches us here that no matter how much it hurts; we can overcome betrayal. The power comes from the God of Heaven and earth. That power is FORGIVENESS.
MY HOLY WEEK PRAYER ON BETRAYAL AND FORGIVENESS
Father God: Holy Week is a reminder of your message of the Cross and how life came out of death. Weakness became strength. This week is also a reminder for all believers to forgive those who betray us. A reminder to cry out for you and not take it out on our betrayers. A reminder to never repay an insult with an insult or evil with evil. Yes, Holy Week is a perfect time for us to focus on FORGIVENESS because of the example Jesus set on the Cross at Golgatha. To love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is my Holy Week prayer on betrayal and forgiveness. Strengthen me Lord to follow your lead and powerful example. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
God demands forgiveness from us because he knew our lives would include people and situations where peace and comfort were totally absent (Ephesians 4:32).
That is why our battle with bitterness comes down to a fight against UNBELIEF in God’s promise to make things right in his timing.
Bitterness is mostly rooted in our inability to be blown away by Christ’s love for us in our own sin. Vengeance is a lazy way to deal with our pain. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. Battling bitterness comes from trusting God’s promise to turn the cause of our bitterness for our good.
The solution is not to fix our offenders or erase our pain.
The solution is to have a heart overflowing with Christ’s abundant and thankful grace that splashes on everyone we encounter on life’s road.
Thank God for his gift of real, genuine forgiveness…a kind of forgiveness that has nothing to do with bargaining or begging with God. The power of God’s forgiveness increases exponentially when we expose every detail of our sin and give him the full story so he can take all of it away.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24
