Taking It to Our Knees Devotional - Day One

Life Talk with Craig Lounsbrough

Betrayal Is the Manifestation of Someone’s Greed, Not a Commentary of Our Worth

“After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’”

John 13:21

Here’s the Thought for Today:

Betrayal is intentional…ruthlessly so. It is the deliberate choice of someone to hold their interests as so superior to our well-being that the cost of crushing us in order to advance their agendas is deemed as entirely reasonable and indisputably acceptable. In this horrifically devastating scenario, we become fodder in someone’s blind pursuit of objectives that such an action will, in fact, never achieve.

Once the perpetrator comes to understand that both the agenda and the means chosen to achieve it accomplish neither, they will quickly fabricate a distorted narrative crafted to sustain the acceptability of what they’ve done. Such a short-sighted effort will demand repeated editing as the narratives cannot keep step with the ever-emerging realities of the betrayal. And herein the betrayal multiplies as the increasingly frustrated perpetrator fruitlessly attempts to justify choices that are ever more intensely being revealed as flawed, failed, and beyond the scope of every fresh iteration.

Yet, we are not human fodder. Betrayal is not a reflection of who ‘we’ are. It is, in fact, a reflection of who ‘they’ are. And although the person who betrayed us will adamantly deny such a reality, we must remember that this is simply a failed means by which the betrayer will work to justify unjustifiable actions. You are not human fodder. You are not refuse to be discarded at someone else’s whim. Quite the opposite…you are a child of God. You are a manifestation of His amazing ingenuity. You are cherished royalty. You are a one-of-a-kind person with a one-of-a-kind calling. That is who you are.

The Quote for Today is this:

“No betrayal is so big that God’s commitment to us and presence within us is not bigger.”

Today’s Prayer

Dear God:

It is likely that the one who betrayed me is already experiencing the pain of an agenda not achieved and is even now working diligently to avoid that reality. I know that they will work to keep the consequences of their choices at bay, and I know that they will ultimately fail in achieving that goal. And whatever all of this does to them, it is my prayer that they may surrender to those realities and in doing so find their way to You.

As for me, heal the wounds within me, for they are deep. You say that You “heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds,” and I believe that You’re doing that right now because You promised to. And in the healing, may I come to understand myself better, may I grow as I press in and through this time in my life, and may I find myself turning to You with an ever-increasing intensity and ever-growing commitment. I know that my heart will be peppered with hate and I will tend toward revenge as that is part of my humanity. But as this happens, build within me an ability to see the other person as a wounded human being who has only served to increase their own woundedness. And may that soften me sufficiently to begin to forgive them, knowing that such an action will not come easily, but it will come.