The older I get,
the more I realize how dependent upon the Lord I am. I have found myself
wondering, “How did Jesus do it?” I think about the Scriptures and I wonder how
Jesus kept focused, during the darkest time in His life. Betrayal from within His inner-circle…
Betrayal from someone who was one of His twelve…
I suppose you
can say that because Jesus is God manifested in flesh, you would think: “Well,
Jesus knew what was going to happen.”
Okay, but even so – betrayal is betrayal and nothing hurts more than it
being someone in your inner circle, someone you deeply love - yet still Jesus continued on.
And He was
betrayed by a kiss… A KISS!
We live in a
world that grows darker by the minute but in living in it we need to realize
how much brighter light is in darkness.
When Jesus spoke
again to the people, he said:
"I am the light of the world. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
(John 8:12)
Are you walking
in the light? Or are you walking in pitch black darkness? God wants you to know that He has
experienced your pain. The Word of God
IS the living Word. We have it for a
reason. It is a guide to guide us
through this life. There is nothing that
Jesus has not experienced that He cannot relate to you about - Walk towards the
Light.
When someone
betrays you, or lies to you or hurts you more often than not you cannot see
past the pain. There are so many songs
that talk about “you always hurt the ones you love” but God didn’t mean life to
be that way. We live in a fallen world
that grows darker and darker by the moment.
We cannot give people our faith but we can look to Jesus as our example
and we can do what is the total opposite of what we feel like doing… LOVE
THEM. Everything inside of you wants
revenge or to hurt them just as deeply as they have hurt you back so they can
feel the pain you feel, in fact that is the way of this world. Evening news is filled with violence, filled
with “people hurting people” but that is not what God commands us to do. He commands us to LOVE THEM.
LOVE THEM
Go against the
grain. Go against the tide of your
feelings. Go against the crowd. DO the OPPOSITE of what your feelings are
telling you to do – LOVE THEM. Are you feeling annoyed when you read that? It's okay if you are. Keep praying that God will change your heart. Think about Jesus. Think about how He felt as He was spat upon and ridiculed and jeered at by those He came to save. Yet still He continued...
When you can't love them - PRAY. "Lord - I don't have it in me, so I need YOU to put it in me. Help me Father. Help ME to love them as YOU love me." Because when you think about it - if you are to be honest and look at yourself you can see that there are times when you sinned. You did the opposite of what God wanted you to do. You went your own way. You broke God's heart and still He loves you. There are times when YOU may be the person who hurt someone else (either knowingly or unknowingly) and you may not even know how many people are having to do the same thing for YOU. God wants us to love, and if you ask Him - He will put His love in your heart and show you how to see the person(s) that have betrayed you through His eyes. That changes everything...
“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 abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the
other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic
either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your
goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do
so to them. ... “(Luke 6:27-36)
“For if you love those who
love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
(Matthew 5:46)
“This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John
15:12)
“If you love those who love
you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”
(Luke 6:32)
“But love your enemies, and
do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great,
and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the
evil.” (Luke 6:35)
I’m not saying
that type of love is “fake it until you make it” kind of love, I’m talking
about asking God to open your heart and fill it with a genuine love for the
person(s) who have betrayed you. When the
Holy Spirit has that love come flooding in it will take you by surprise. It will flood you and in your mind you will
be thinking, “How can I possibly be feeling this?” But it is an over pouring of
the Holy Spirit filling you with a love that comes ONLY from God. It may be that all you can do is pray for
that person(s), but you will be doing it from a place of love.
That is the
example that Jesus has set for us. He is
the One who we are to look to. What
would Jesus do? What DID Jesus do?
“A new commandment I give
to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to
love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
“I have been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
"Father God, there is nothing in this life that You have not experienced, that You do not know about. I hurt Father. I was betrayed! I have been "spat" upon by the people in my life that matter most. Help me to love them. Help me to live a life worthy of the love YOU have for me. Help me to turn to You in my raw pain and ask You to help me to love and to forgive." And He will...
Remember, John 13:35 says:
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
And they will...
Praise God that he removed the scales from our eyes and made us aware of what we needed - HIM. I am more than ever aware of the fact that I cannot get through this life without Him, that I NEED Him with a passion and a thirst that can only be fulfilled by knowing Him and trusting Him more. Everything around us gives proof to the fact that He exists. 
