Dealing With Betrayal

In 2 Timothy 4 we read about how Paul is utterly abandoned by Demas.  We learn how in Paul's darkest hour, facing execution, he's all alone - save Luke.  No one stood by his side.  The heartbreak and agony are dripping from the verses and yet Paul's response is amazing...and instructive.  What does Paul say?  He says, "may it not be charged against them."  The heart of Christ is exactly that!  And that's the goal of Christian living and sanctification.  

If you've been hurt by others, maybe betrayed, you know well the pain.  The thing is, though, we don't come close to what Jesus Himself experienced for the simple reason that we're sinners and He was/is perfection in the flesh.  To be conformed to the image of God's Son is to learn to suffer for the gospel and to love others even when they disappoint or, as in Paul's case with Demas, abandon you.  Life in the current age will have its share of sunsets and sorrows.  Paul's concern, though, should be ours too. He finishes with doxology.  He praises the God who will deliver him safely on that distant shore!  And he prays that others, even those that left him, will likewise be saved.