"Convenient" Betrayal

Convenient Betrayal

"Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him." (Mk.14:10-11)

...might "conveniently betray" Him. What a haunting statement and what an alarming warning unto us. Do you see it?

Betray: to give into the hands of another; treacherously deliver up

Judas sought out those who would take the Lord, thereby betraying His Lord to evil men, and he did so for greedy "gain". But we know the end of his story, don't we? What did Judas really gain out of this transaction but condemnation? What do any of us ever really gain from sinning against our Lord; for, in essence, exchanging our Lord for some temporal or carnal gain? It is my hope that we all see the futility there and recognize that there is no winning option in living that kind of life.

We often, rightly, condemn Judas because God's word does so and Jesus foretold his treachery...but in our condemnation of him, do we do so too quickly? The scripture leaves us this record so we may learn, do we see the lesson? Do we condemn the actions of this man without seeing our own selves in his decisions, in his frame of mind, in his betrayal of Christ? Yes, we can be like Judas Iscariot -- what a terrifying thought that is!!

Consider with me the parallels to our own lives and opportunities:

* Judas heard the teachings of Christ

How often have we, too, heard the teachings of Christ through preaching of God's word or through personal study of His word?

* Judas had the choice to apply the teachings which he heard from Jesus Christ daily

Do we not have the same opportunity before us? Yet see how Judas forsook those teachings and failed to see how the lessons applied to himself (Mk.4:18-19; Mk.10:23-30; Mk.12:41-44; Lk.12:15-21)

* Judas was considered a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ (Apostle even)

Wouldn't a good number of us reading this post consider ourselves one of His disciples? Yet do we all truly follow Him as we claim, according to His standards?

* Judas had ample opportunity to obey Christ, humbly submit to Him, and be a true follower, but he served himself and satan instead

Doesn't this describe our daily activity and choices? Judas had the same decision to make as the other disciples did, he heard the same lessons as they, he knew the Lord -- yet still he chose to betray Him to evil men.

What holds us back from serving God fully and faithfully? For Judas it was greed and selfish ambition, for us it could be the same or it could be any number of things. Whatever we let between us and our Lord, that is what we have made our god.

These are just a few similarities. For Judas he sought an opportunity to "conveniently betray" Jesus -- is this not what you and I do when we choose sin over our Savior? Do you realize you and I have the same opportunities to either obey our Lord or betray Him like Judas?

Let's choose to follow Jesus, not Judas.

May we humbly submit, learn the lessons from the life of Judas, and serve Christ faithfully.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Through God We Will Do Valiantly

Through God We Will Do Valiantly " Give us help from trouble,  For the help of man  is  useless.  Through God we will do valiantly,  For  it is  He  who  shall tread down our enemies. " Psalm 60:11-12 NKJV Do you know what it is to be delivered by God? If you're a Christian, that answer is "Yes!" and you know the beauty of being delivered out of the hand of your adversary. You have your own battles and I have mine. Some may have battled addictions, others a lifestyle, while others deal with various other sins which gets its claws into you and refuses to let go. Perhaps you're currently enslaved to a sin and think there's no way out. There is only one sure way out of our sin, and that is with the Lord. Make no mistake, our adversary is strong, he is a mighty foe, yet our Lord is stronger and mightier than all. With the Lord is deliverance, hope, strength, trust, joy, and life. With our adversary is certain death, destruction, sorrow, fear, lies, an
Read more

Efficient

Efficient. I like this word; better yet, I like for things to work in this manner. Here's what it means: "performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort; having and using requisite knowledge, skill, and industry; competent; capable" There is no sense, in my mind, in doing something inefficiently. Why waste time doing something another way? When there is a prescribed way to do something, there's often a very good reason as to why, and to act outside the bounds of that way is illogical. While this word, efficient, is one you'll be hard-pressed to find in scripture, the concept is all throughout God's word. The best way to be efficient is to obey God. To act outside the bounds of God's word is inefficient. That's it. So much, in my mind, is black and white; it either is or it is not; it either is "yes" or it is "no" and I don't believe much else in life is an exception to that rul
Read more

Veterans' Day

Veterans' Day It is on this day that we remember, as a nation, our veterans who have honorably served this country. I thank each and every one for their service to our country, the price they have paid, and the scars they bear daily, both external and internal. I thank and each of you, not just on this day, but for each day I live in a free nation that you have helped keep safe; I recognize that, as a result of your service, many of you live and remember daily their time spent in service to this country. The memories don't go away; many of you have seen combat; you've seen the enemy eye to eye, or scope to scope, or put your training up against his/her; I recognize that those sights, sounds, and smells don't go away. If you came in contact with the enemy, those brushes with death, the fear and the adrenaline, the blood, the possible tears from rage or from the adrenaline of coming so close to death; the flood of all kinds of emotion; the acting on instinct and allowing
Read more