| Profit In Betrayal; Personal Agendas | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 20 2008, 01:04 PM (265 Views) | |
| Stace | Dec 20 2008, 01:04 PM Post #1 |
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Profit in Betrayal What did Judas seek to profit in his betrayal of Jesus? His motive? Was it to gain his own agenda? Some teach us that he wanted to force Jesus into power by forcing His hand. Maybe Judas was thinking that if he forced Jesus defend himself that Jesus would have to call on the host of Heaven to act on His behalf, thus ushering in the Kingdom where Judas could be a royal treasurer of the nation. Maybe Jesus offended him once too many times. Maybe he considered having the favor of the Pharisees seemed a little more steadfast then following a miracle worker who kept saying He would be killed. Nonetheless, while Judas profited silver in betraying Jesus, we profited eternal life. In studying scriptures, we can see a trend or pattern. The immediate profit of one often acts as the long term profit of another. We should take heed. Notice in the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot, Lot took the immediate profit of the good ground, yet it was Abraham that had to bail him out of trouble. In the story of Joseph, his brothers profited peace from what they considered their egotistic younger brother by selling him to the Egyptians. Yet, in the long run, it was Joseph who saved them from the famine. The wife of Potiphar profited a "saved face" by accusing Joseph of rape putting him in prison which in turn, our Lord used to exalt Joseph into the Pharaoh's palace as second in command of Egypt. Yet the biggest betrayal in history was Judas betraying Jesus. We wonder what was going on with Judas. It was one man and the aggregate of all evil suggestions by the devil consummating into one final decision that activated the painful steps toward the eternal salvation for all mankind. An appointed time in history where the Creator of all mankind would offer His own Son as a sacrifice for our redemption. The devil whispering a small and subtle temptation into Judas' ears, over and over, until the bait was taken by the man with his own agenda. When God has His plans, and when man has his own agenda, God wins. Man is left in a destitute position, often with the trailing words from God saying, "Woe to the man...." Jesus told us that it would have been better if Judas had never been born. Regretful words for Judas from the heart of our savior who displayed great love and kindness to Judas while knowing that he was betraying Jesus even at that moment. We as Christians walk side by side with people, both saved and unsaved, in our jobs, at the supermarket, paying bills, driving on the highways to get to our destination... on and on. We can be guilty of having our own agenda. Our plans begin in our hearts. If our heart is set on seeing every man, woman, and child saved and brought into the Kingdom of God, then our actions are different than if our heart is set on getting to grandma's on time. With the first, you make sure your every move brings honor to the Lord, praying for each person you drive by. With the second, you speed by, cut corners, and do not even see the people in the cars, much less the homeless on the street. There is even a more serious danger to the heart we must watch out for. We are not here to be the iron that sharpens our brother's iron by using an ax. Judas was not good for Jesus. We do not owe our salvation to Judas who "played an instrumental role" in the direction of Jesus' life. Our Father used Babylon to chasten Israel, yet He also destroyed Babylon for going to far with their oppression of His beloved Israel. When Proverbs 27:17 tells us, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend," it is telling us how we can be a blessing to our friends. A sharpening of wits with each other. One cannot hit a brother over the head and say they are blessing them with the ability to turn the other cheek. It does not work that way, and such actions will bring the corrective hand of our Father. So, in essence, it boils down to this, our own personal agendas will not hold. Maybe some of our agendas will not cross the Lord's specific plans, maybe they will only hurt us in the long run, but when they do cross the Lord's plans ... there is but one end to it ... destruction. We must keep our hearts soft before the Lord, always willing to take a step back when we think we may be heading across His tracks. A heart like this will always find the Lord kind and willing to help make the adjustments needed to get on the right path. Just ask Him. stace |
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3:41 AM Jul 11