He chose the cross!

He was not waiting for them to be “worthy” of it for they were not, could not ever be, as you and I can never be “worthy,” for to think so is a further evidence of how deceived we are of having a distorted high view of ourselves as though somehow we are capable of contributing to our own righteousness before God. Did He not say, “your righteousness  is as filthy rags,” which spoke of the cloth a woman would use for her menstrual cycle! He wanted them to see it was not acceptable. Self -righteousness, is that “SELF!” Jesus died to deliver us from “self!” How did Jesus deal with betrayal? HE WENT TO THE CROSS FOR THEM!  Those who passed by hurling abuse, “If you be the Son of God save yourself.” He saved others let Him come down of the cross if He is who He claims to be, they mocked. But if He came off the cross, then they would die in their sin, and nothing sinks a soul quicker than self righteousness.

How did Jesus respond to betrayal? 

  • He CHOSE to GO to the cross, to pay the penalty for their sin.
  • He CHOSE to PRAY for them in the place their sin had put Him. “Father FORGIVE them they know not what they do.” He chose to do the Father’s will,” Father not My will but Your will be done!”
  • He CHOSE to show His LOVE to those who betrayed Him who could never pay Him back. On the third day He arose and though they had locked themselves in a room to preserve SELF, He comes to them and the first word He spoke to them was “Peace!”
  • He CHOSE to SEEK THEM OUT later when they had all gone back fishing. While they were fishing He shows up and is serving them, considering they have been up all night fishing, He makes them breakfast, and upon recognizing Him they come to shore and He restores them and dear Peter and gives him and them responsibility in His kingdom!

 HOW DID JESUS HANDLE BETRAYAL? He demonstrates LOVE to His Father and to them by going to the cross for them! He PRAYS for them. He SERVES them. He DOES GOOD to them. He does not abandon them but RESTORES them and gives them opportunities to CO LABOR With Him! He responded with LOVE. “Let ALL that YOU DO, Be DONE IN LOVE.”-{1 Cor 16:14}.

To choose to allow the hurt turn to anger, revenge, bitterness is sin. It is a temptation choice you do not have to succumb to! You can choose love! When the thought of how you have been betrayed comes to mind ask yourself? “Will my response in my thinking or deeds, or speech be love or not?” If it said “Let all that YOU DO be DONE in bitterness, resentment, vengeance,” then you would be “entitled” to do so, but it doesn’t and you are not your own, you gave away your right to rule yourself to the LORD Jesus and to follow Him and He has provided His Spirit, Word, promises and power, to enable you to “do all that you, be done in love!”

IT BEGINS WITH YOUR THOUGHT LIFE; Philippians 4:8 mentions six “whatever’s” such as “whatever is true,…let your mind dwell on it” “whatever is lovely…let your mind dwell on it” “whatever is of good repute…let your mind dwell on it.” So you have the power to CHOOSE what you will give your THINKING, ENERGY TO… Think on Truth, which is His Word,-{John 17:17} and His Son is Truth {John 14:6}. Train yourself to think on His Word and trust in it and His Son. Choose to forgive from the heart. It is a promise given and it means “I will never use to manipulate, demean, embarrass, or use against another. I will choose to forgive them, bless them, do good, pray for them. I will choose to honor the LORD Jesus by choosing to DO LOVE!”

The pain is real, your Savior is real, His Spirit lives within to empower His Word to you and through you to choose… love, motivated by His love for you. This painful, heart wrenching, numbing, searing pain of betrayal is very real and debilitating as it seems can also be included in the promise of hope for you, “… and we KNOW ALL THINGS work together for the good  to those who love Him and are the called …”{Romans 8:28} and part of that “all,” is the betrayal you now experience. As one dear friend often said to me of pain, “it doesn’t feel good, look good, but He promises it will work for good…”  The “good,” ultimately is in conforming your thinking, attitudes, habits of response to Him.{Rom 8:28-29}. It  is an entering into the “fellowship of His suffering,”-{Phil 3:10} an identification through pain of a deeper communion with Him, dependence upon Him and- the God of all comfort who comforts you in your affliction SO THAT YOU will be able to comfort others with the comfort which you yourself have been comforted by in their time of affliction-{2 Cor 1:3-4}. God can use this to make you a comforter to the crushed, out of your own pain. It is easy and the most natural, sinfully so to drink in the spirit of resentment, bitterness and poisoning your own emotions, affecting your mental and physical health and poisoning yourself and spewing forth that poison venom to others and infecting them with bitterness of speech and action. “BUT GOD…” has provided you the power to say- “No,” – to sin’s mastery over you and “Yes,” to His Love, to, and through you, to enable you to respond supernaturally, in a way that honors Him.

The Betrayal – is Real

The Betrayal – is Painful

The Betrayal – Need not cause you to respond by sinning through seeking vengeance, or inflicting pain on the one who has betrayed you.

The Betrayal – Is An Opportunity for you to Talk to and lean in on the LORD, casting your cares upon Him. It is not as though He cannot compassionately identify.

The Betrayal- Is an opportunity for you to Grow in dependence upon the Lord and in Christlikeness through choosing your response in obedience to His Word.

The Betrayal- Does Not define you. Christ defines you!

The Betrayal- Is an Opportunity for you to DEMONSTRATE A Godly Christ Response.

“I CHOOSE!”

Guard your tongue when speaking to others, guard your mind, guard your heart.  Nowhere in Scripture is “forgive and forget” found. For the evil one will make sure to bring the offender’s offense up to you seeking to entice you to the swamp of bitterness and in doing so sin against God, grieve His Spirit, and tie you in cords of sin once more. Forgiveness is a promise. Forgiveness is an attitude maintained, when the offense comes up, immediately refer to “I have forgiven, pardoned them for Jesus sake.” Remind yourself, – Just as God has forgiven me I have forgiven them, never again to hold against them for love keeps no records of wrongs. I choose instead to bless them, for Jesus sake. I seek their highest good for Jesus sake. I can do so and I choose to do so, for Jesus sake. I too have betrayed and a recipient of His love, at great cost, His life and forfeiture of His fellowship with the Father on that cross. ” When we extend and maintain the attitude of forgiveness we are being Christ like. Sometimes it takes an offense for us to exhibit LOVE. You can say, “I Choose to glorify God by choosing to forgive and love, “…for JESUS SAKE.”- {2 Cor 4:5}.

We all respond to betrayal, but not all have the power to respond in love, as a follower of Christ you do, you can, you must, for His sake! He is worth it!

REMEMBER- YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SINS OF OTHERS, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SELF!

“Let ALL that YOU DO, be Done In LOVE.”- {1 Cor 16:14}.

ASK YOURSELF, are these thoughts I am embracing, you can’t stop them coming to your head, but you can stop them having control over you and mastering you into submission of being bitter, resentful, hatred, and gossiping. How did Jesus respond to betrayal? He went to the cross, restored His disciples, and gave them responsibility in His Kingdom. You say, “I’m Not Jesus!” No, but His Spirit is within you to enable you to choose what to think on, how to respond in such a way that “men may see your good works and glorify your Heavenly Father.” If you are in the place of betrayal, I am truly sorry for you, but confident through the pain “all things,” including this thing of betrayal, He will work for good in conforming you into the image of His dear Son, and through your testimony He is being glorified.  We have ALL Betrayed Him with our living, we have betrayed others, and how would you want to be treated? Jesus says, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”-{Luke 6:31}. You would want to be forgiven, right? You would want to be treated with mercy, kindness, forgiveness and love, right? You wouldn’t want to be ostracized, ridiculed, gossiped about or have it held against you and brought up at times to manipulate you, would you? No? Then DO as Jesus says and “Let ALL that YOU DO, Be DONE IN LOVE” Why is that so important? Because Jesus says so, and also by EXHIBITING LOVE you testify of Him, “By this ALL men will KNOW you are My disciples by your… bitterness?… resentment?…Gossip?… hatred… unforgiving spirit? NO, for they ALL testify to humanity, in a fallen state,Sin, but Jesus says, “By this ALL men will Know you are My disciples by your LOVE for one another”{John 13:34-35}.

LOVE is the characteristic to be expressed. 1 Cor 13:4-7 gives the attributes of love. It is a verb… this is love’s behavior. “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud  or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”-{NLT}. If you put your name in where it says “LOVE,” since that is what God calls you to… how loving are you? How loving am I? Yet we will quickly see we have ALL BETRAYED Him by failing to LOVE, not due to a lack of instruction or power but a lack of LOVE For… HIM! The first and greatest commandment is to “LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART, SOUL , MIND AND STRENGTH… AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF” We are told to love other followers of Christ and this as a testimony to “all men”-{ 1 John 13:34-35}.

We are told to “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES” and He shows us how to practically? Jesus says, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”- {Luke 6:27-28}. Did God not also say, “without Love you are NOTHING!” Indeed in 1 Corinthians 13 He says, not to be as  the lost, who clanging their cymbals, making lots of noise but devoid of love! When we CHOOSE to respond in unloving attitudes, actions we are compared to a lost person, indeed clanging cymbals is loud, obnoxious, and we are like them, we are nothing! God chose us for Himself and to know His love, be influenced by His love, walk by faith in His love for us and rest in His Love and show forth His Love. { See Eph 4; Gal 2:20, John 13:34-35}. Respond with love. It will honor Him, it will keep you from grieving the Holy Spirit, it will keep you from being USED AS AN AGENT TO INFLUENCE OTHERS TO THEIR DETRIMENT WITH… BITTERNESS!  REMEMBER JESUS… How He dealt with and does deal with BETRAYAL! Paul shows us one of the four particles in Colossians 1:9-14 of what it means to “walk pleasing Him in all aspects” is “strengthened” to  deal with “difficult people, difficult circumstances” with “all joy” is by continually thanking the Father for your salvation which includes His power to break and deliver you from being a slave to resentment, anger, bitterness…and instead to have His power to forgive, bless, do good, pray, love the one who has betrayed you! His Spirit resides within and His Word with all its power, promises and pattern for you to THINK and Live out  is yours!

Life is hard, “But God…”

Praying for strengthening inwardly for you as I send this and reminded of one of the four particles for “walking well pleasing of the LORD,” which is found in Col 1:9-14… and it is that you might be “strengthened to deal with difficult people and circumstances, “with all joy giving continual thanks to the Father for your salvation.” And part of that salvation, the word speaks of rescuing from a dangerous place is, the ABILITY TO FORGIVE AND CHOOSE TO LOVE!

Respond in Love! I know it is hard, BUT it is possible because of the promises of God, the Power of God, the provision of the Holy Spirit all are gifted to you to enable you to respond differently, God honoring…the Lord Jesus is worth it!

HOW DID JESUS RESPOND TO BETRAYAL? He chose the Cross. He chose self denial to Glorify His Father and seeking for the good of those who had betrayed Him… you and I are Benefits of  such LOVE… Do Likewise, by choosing the cross, no  to self revenge, and yes to Jesus through self denial in order to glorify our Heavenly Father and seeking the good of others including the … betrayer! “Hatred stirs up strife {Conflict, quarrels} But Love covers all sins!” -{Prov 10:12, 1 Peter 4:8}. Hatred, keeps alive the sinful feelings of hostility, and seeking of vengeance, the fueling of strife, but love wipes it all out through forgiveness extended. Love is “the greatest!”Not all will respond appropriately as they should but it will keep you in right relationship with the LORD. Love testifies you are His. Love points to Him. Love covers all sins! Choose to love,”…for Jesus sake.”-{2 Cor 4:5}.