There are few things in life that strike so violently at our every sense of pride like betrayal. When someone we loved well casts aside our faithfulness and instead returns with malice and false accusations, it can send us into a flat out tailspin.
It's confusing, heartbreaking, ugly.
It's part of life.
Betrayal happens with varying levels of intensity.
Your spouse shares your embarrassing faults with others at a dinner party.
A co-worker blames you entirely for a report getting submitted late, leaving you to deal with the consequences alone.
Dear friends talk about your weaknesses behind your back.
Call it "throwing someone under the bus", or "back stabbing" or whatever else comes to mind, the point, is it hurts.
And it's in that pain that we find Jesus.
Jesus who, "on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'"
A great act of betrayal was met with the greatest act of love. Jesus faced it with pure humility and sacrifice; a sacrifice that gives hope to every tongue, tribe, and nation.
A sacrifice that gives hope to us when we are faced with betrayal. Hope that God is near. Hope that he will comfort us and guide us to be more like him. Hope that justice and grace will somehow both prevail. Hope of heaven and it's promise of peace.
May betrayal be faced with the humility that comes from knowing that, in light of eternity, another's opinion doesn't matter; only God's. God who sees every true thing. God who lavishes grace. God who looks you dead in the eye and says, "You are my beloved."
It's confusing, heartbreaking, ugly.
It's part of life.
Betrayal happens with varying levels of intensity.
Your spouse shares your embarrassing faults with others at a dinner party.
A co-worker blames you entirely for a report getting submitted late, leaving you to deal with the consequences alone.
Dear friends talk about your weaknesses behind your back.
Call it "throwing someone under the bus", or "back stabbing" or whatever else comes to mind, the point, is it hurts.
And it's in that pain that we find Jesus.
Jesus who, "on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'"
A great act of betrayal was met with the greatest act of love. Jesus faced it with pure humility and sacrifice; a sacrifice that gives hope to every tongue, tribe, and nation.
A sacrifice that gives hope to us when we are faced with betrayal. Hope that God is near. Hope that he will comfort us and guide us to be more like him. Hope that justice and grace will somehow both prevail. Hope of heaven and it's promise of peace.
May betrayal be faced with the humility that comes from knowing that, in light of eternity, another's opinion doesn't matter; only God's. God who sees every true thing. God who lavishes grace. God who looks you dead in the eye and says, "You are my beloved."
Thank you my friend
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