Recently, there has been some disappointing and heartbreaking news about popular Christian leaders, singers, and writers who have admitted to not living rightly before the LORD.

This is distressing to hear, but what has bothered me equally is what some other professed followers of Christ have written about them.

We shouldn’t write, speak, or judge out of bitterness.

I have been both betrayer and betrayed; we all have. No one is without sin. NO ONE!

You may not feel like you have betrayed anyone, but we have all broken a promise, let someone down and left someone feeling betrayed. But the biggest indictment against us is our betrayal of Christ.

It is tempting to point fingers, but when we do, as we used to say when I was a kid, three are pointing back at ourselves.

Does it hurt to be betrayed? Like a burning furnace, a knife wound to the heart! It doesn’t matter when the betrayal occurred or when you discovered it; the pain is the same.

But pointing at others only feeds the belief that we are better, without rotten, festering, black holes in our own souls. We are all at risk of stumbling and hurting those around us, especially the ones closest to us. We are flawed human beings.

Our only hope is in abiding deep with the LORD.

I’m not talking about sitting in his kitchen with a cup of tea and idle chatter. I mean deep down, gut-level, in the bedroom type of intimacy. Standing naked and exposed before the Almighty God. All your cards on the table; every act, thought, and desire spread out for him to judge and help you decipher and overcome.

When we have been deeply betrayed, or feel so, this is hard to do. Fear makes us hold back. We’ve trusted before, been vulnerable before, and don’t want to feel that burning pain again.

But God is not like mortal mankind, weak, flawed, and self-focused. He is strong, pure, loves deeply, and his desire is for us.

I understand some betrayals are deeper, more life-altering than others, but unforgiveness and bitterness only keep you in a prison, where the ultimate betrayer, Satan, continues to inflict pain.

As followers of Christ, we are commanded to forgive, as he does, because we have been forgiven. Matthew 6:14

I encourage you to read the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35.

Mark 11:25-26 says that when we pray, if we think of someone we haven’t forgiven, we are to do so right away.

In Luke 6:37, Jesus says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.”

Before we speak or write, bitterly judging and condemning the behaviour of others, we need to take a good, long look at our own hearts and motives.

If they have acknowledged and repented of their sin, we are to forgive, encourage and love them, so they can be fully restored. Isn’t that what we would want? Is this not why our God is so great, why we love him so much?

Publicly tearing them down, or doubting their repentance or motives, only harms the body of Christ more and gives ammunition to the enemy.

We are not only to forgive, but we are not to judge or condemn those who have betrayed us, those we love, or our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is a tall order, I know, and I am guilty of it in my own private sector. But let us,

 “encourage one another and build each other up,” and

“encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 and 14-15

Christ has called us to follow him. The path is not always smooth or quick. Often it twists and winds, and we can’t see where it is leading, or understand why. But we know the Lord is trustworthy and faithful, and he promises to be with us every stumbling, weary, painful step.

Be well!

Patricia