HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 37
page A35
Authenticity See Pretending
Betrayal See also Forgiveness
Betrayal is one of the saddest realities of human relationships. It can be bold and direct
(treason against your country or the act of adultery) or it can be quiet and subtle (flattering
friends to get something from them or a little white lie to make you look better and someone else look worse). Either way, betrayal involves the breaking of trust and confidence in
a relationship. On a deeper level, we often betray God. Every day we break the trust of the
one who created us and gives us life and purpose. Fortunately, by God’s grace, through
Jesus’ death on the cross, we can trust God and be confident that he will never betray us
when we enter into a relationship with him.
How do I betray God?
• J E R E MI A H 3 :2 0 | “But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! You have been
like a faithless wife who leaves her husband. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Sin is betraying God. Your sinful human nature causes you to betray God even when you
don’t want to. Your heart betrays you before it betrays God. To deceive God, you must
deceive yourself into believing that it is okay to deceive him.
• NE H E MI A H 9 :2 6 | “But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you.”
Your disobedience to God is a betrayal of him. You disobey when you do something God’s
Word tells you not to do, or when you don’t do something God’s Word tells you to do.
• NU MB E R S 5 :6 | “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people—
men or women—betray the Lord by doing wrong to another person, they are guilty.”
Doing wrong to another person is also betraying God, because you are breaking your
pledge of loyalty and obedience to him to do what is right and loving toward his people.
How can I avoid betraying God?
• R O MA NS 3 :2 3 -2 4 | For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus
when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
• 1 J O H N 1 :9 | But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
You can’t completely avoid betraying God. Every person has sinned and will continue to
sin against God. But if you realize you are a sinner at heart, and if you confess your sins
to God, he will forgive you. He will look at you and treat you as though you have never
betrayed him.
What should I do when I am betrayed?
• MAT T H E W 1 0 :2 1 | “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own
child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed.”
• MAT T H E W 2 6 :4 5 | “But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands
of sinners.”
It is important to recognize that betrayal is an inevitable part of the human experience.
Even Jesus was betrayed. This doesn’t make being betrayed easy, but it helps you realize
that it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you.
HelpFinder
• R O MA NS 7 :2 1 -2 3 | I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is
right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another
power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that
is still within me.
B
The opposite of betrayal is loyalty. Anyone who has become a Christian has pledged
loyalty to God. You are disloyal to God when you allow something else to become more
important than him, or when you look to something or someone else to help you without
even acknowledging God or asking for his help first.