"All Men Betray; All Men Lose Heart"

Robert, the Bruce, hears these words from his father and responds, “I don’t want to lose heart! I want to believe.” No scene in the movie Braveheart carries with it more truth and rawness than this dialogue.

Nothing hurts more deeply than betrayal. For there to be betrayal, there first must have been trust. All of us have experienced the arrows-to-the-heart of betrayal. Oscar Wilde describes the way of betrayal:

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering word
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword[1]

Betrayal, possibly more than anything else, causes men to lose heart. Betrayal and loss of heart are intricately tied together. I have stood next to countless men who have lost heart after an affair, theft of a business, or an unfair firing—all manifestations of betrayal.

All men lose heart. But loss of heart doesn’t have to be the end of the story. There can be a new chapter in the book God is writing through your life. The Apostle Paul, who had lost everything outward in his life—his reputation, family, and ministry—said to the Corinthians, “We don’t lose heart. We have renounced the hidden things of shame.” (2 Cor. 4:1-2, NKJV). It seems that Paul had learned a secret of not losing heart—leave the shame and betrayal behind.

My grandmother, Lucille, who experienced divorce and the loss of two husbands in her 95 years, died a happy woman. She was fond of saying, “I make the most of what comes, and the least of what goes.” Good advice. Sounds like she understood the secret of Paul.

Not losing heart,

Steve

Steve Holt D.D. MA

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[1] The Ballad of the Reading Gaol