“I would never have thought the person I called my friend would do something like this to me.” One of the bitter experiences in life is to be betrayed. Unfortunately, betrayal has become a common occurrence in our society today. It destroys trust and breaks relationships. What causes people to betray the trust that has been placed in them? Excessive ambition, greed, lust, jealousy and a host of other reasons. Betrayal should be discouraged and avoided. How do you avoid betrayal? BETTY AMUKPO interacts with some children.
‘Detach from people you don’t trust’
Betrayal means “delivered up or handed over”. How do you avoid betrayal?
• Erase the imprints of betrayal.
• Forgive.
• Regain faith in yourself.
• Detach from people you don’t trust.
• Find others who have faith.
Proverbs 25:9-10 says, Instead of fighting or revenging, take up the matter with your neighbour and don’t betray another person’s confidence.
• Umennadi Francis Chibunna
‘By not being jealous or bitter’
Betraying is an act of giving information about someone that loves and trust you to his or her enemy; It’s painful. I will avoid betraying others by being humble and honest, having respect and being caring to everybody and having self control. I will make sure I know the motive somebody has before giving out information about others, will also confirm from the person he is asking after before giving out such information. I will try to have self control and love others. I will pray for the grace of God to avoid being enticed by money or any form of gift from the person seeking the information. Love will be my watchword. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss and collecting thirty pieces of silver in Matthew 26:47-50, Luke 22:47-48. I will avoid betraying others by being patient in all I have to do and wait for God’s time. If the Israelites were patient, they would not have forced Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship before Moses came down from Mount Sinai. Thereby betraying God who brought them out of Egypt. Exodus 32:1-14. By not being jealous or bitter. When someone is jealous and bitter he can think and do evil. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him because of the love their father Isaac had for him. They conspired and sold him to Ishmaelites going to Egypt in Genesis 37. All because of jealousy and hatred. He later became their saviour. Let us love one another for love overcomes all wrongs.
• Chibuike Anyasor
‘Argue your case with your neighbour, and do not reveal the secret of another’
I avoid betraying others by staying truthful and honest with those who believes in me and have their secret kept save. I also avoid betraying others because betraying is a sin and I tried my very best to avoid sin and avoid breaking people’s trust. It was also said in the bible in the book of Proverbs 25:9-10: Argue your case with your neighbour, and do not reveal the secret of another, Or he who hears it will reproach you, And the evil report about you will not pass away.
• Gideon Eyinade
‘Betrayal never comes from one’s enemies; love one another’
The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from one’s enemies. This is confirmed in Psalm 41:9, “Even my closest friend whom I trusted, the one who is my bread has lifted his heel against me; those who we loved have turned against us (Job 19:19). Betrayal is often caused by selfishness, greed, jealousy and envy of our neighbour who has more than we do. Betrayal is a hard truth that so many people find so hard to come out of. This is probably due to the realisation that the person you will ordinarily take a bullet for was the one behind the trigger all along. Although the sense of betrayal strikes a chord, as Christians, we can avoid causing hurt to the hearts of our neighbours by obeying the only commandment left for us by Jesus Christ: Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34). Only then can you judge fairly and place yourself in the shoes of another because there is a blessing in every trial.
• Okpata Peter
‘Be liberal, appreciate the good in others and rejoice with them at their successes’
Betrayal simply put, is a breach of trust. It is taken from the Latin word “tradere” which means to “hand-over” See the Betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot Matt: 26:4. How does it come about?
1. It occurs through someone’s deliberate hurtful behaviour.
2. It comes through one’s carelessness or weakness and
3. It can occur out of envy and jealousy, and sometimes greed.
4. Most importantly, it is made out of choice.
Therefore to avoid betraying others I should watch the following in my life: a.) Be Trust worthy. Psalm 55:12-14 b.) Practice true love. Rom 12:14-21 c.) Be forgiving even when we are hurt. Psalm 55: 16-17 d.) Take every situation to God. 1st Peter 3:9 e.) Be liberal, appreciate the good in others and rejoice with them at their successes. In other words not to be jealous and envious of others.
• Munachimso Immanuella Okasi
‘Do not set expectations of how others should act’
The truth is you will never get hurt or disappointed as long as you do not set expectations of how others should act and the way they should think and feel. Ultimately, your expectations have been too high and you get hurt when things don’t turn out the way you expected. Change yourself, don’t try to change others. Just tell others to limit their expectations from you, Proverbs 25:9-10
• Awaki Barnabas
‘Being sincere, obedient and God fearing’
Betrayal is when someone you trust lies, cheats, abuses or hurts you so much. In Matthew 26:23-25, Jesus states to the betrayer.”The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man!” We avoid betraying others by being truthful to others, ourselves and the world at large; being sincere, obedient and God fearing. Thus in Proverbs 19:5.” A false witness will not go unpunished, nor will a liar escape.”
• Victoria Okefe
‘Don’t bargain the trust your friends have in you for some lies or gifts’
“But Jesus said,’ Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the son of man?” (Luke 22:48). This is a very important scriptural verse that brings to mind the word ‘Betrayal’. Betrayal is basically passing a sword into the hearts of those who you perhaps thought you loved. It is what the English men would refer to as, ‘a stab in the back’. A lot of Christians have been left shattered because those they trusted acted otherwise. They often would say, ‘I didn’t lose a friend, I just realised I never had one’. People betray others just to thread on their weaknesses or to pay back for a wrong done in the past. Today as Christians, we are admonished never to bargain the trust our friends have in us for some lies or gifts. We should never see this grave offence as an option but instead avoid it by resting our case in the hands of God who judges fairly (1 Peter 2: 20) and having a peaceful dialogue with neighbours whenever we feel hurt by them (Prov. 25:9-10). Brethren, let go and be free.
• Okpata Paul
