Holy Week - Thursday

Who is the person that betrayed you in the most damaging way?

What did it take for you to work through that betrayal and come to a place of forgiveness? or have you?

Jesus was betrayed by two of his disciples. Judas who sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  There has been a lot of speculation about what motivated Judas to betray Jesus, we may never really know.  But when I am betrayed I am not too concerned about people's motivations.  It doesn't really reduce my pain when I find out why someone betrayed me.  I may be curious, but I am still hurting.

Betrayal is always the most painful when it is someone you trusted or someone who is close to you.  Judas was one of the twelve men that Jesus invested his life into and who called himself a disciple.  Peter was even closer to Jesus.  Peter was one of the three who spent extra time with Jesus along with John and James.

Judas and Peter give us two different ways to handle our own betrayal of Jesus or other people.  We can either allow it to destroy our lives like Judas, or we can confess and ask for forgiveness.  Both men felt terrible after their betrayal, but Judas was unwilling or unable to deal with his feelings.  Judas sadly ended his life and is remembered only for his failure.  How many kids do you know named Judas.  Peter stuck it out and was amazed to find that Jesus restored Peter and gave him another chance.  We cannot allow betrayal to consume our lives and never allow God's grace to cover our sins.  We cannot ignore our betrayal and hope it goes away.

Bring the pain of your own betrayal to God.  Bring the pain of being betrayed to God and allow His grace to help us overcome!