Wed the 31st

Matthew : 26 ²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."

 

Woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man……Judas betrayed Christ for some coin in his pocket. I do not mean to harp on this subject, but in light of this week I can’t help but feel compelled to reflect more on our relationship with Christ, than His relationship with us! A lot of times in life we have to make a choice of which side of the fence do we come down on. As Christians we are taught to offer compassion, and to offer that compassion…we often have to get down on the level of the person or situation so that we might truly understand the need, or problem. However the danger in that comes in the form of sympathy. Sympathy causes us to pick up the cause of the very person we set out to help. When we allow our hearts to be ruled by sympathy we find it very easy to adjust our moral compass. We change sides because we allow sympathy to distort our view. What does this have to do with Judas? Judas, on some level, had to of allowed himself to become sympathetic to the Jewish point of view. Be it for personal gain, notoriety, or immunity….we will never know the full story in this lifetime….but  when all was said and done, something in Judas made him believe that it would be easier, and more beneficial to side with the Jews. Even greedy men have morals, and no one follows a man for years, then betrays him for money if he still believes in him. So why do I bring this up? Because this is how we betray Christ on a much smaller scale today. We shrink form the hard tasks, we allow ourselves to become sympathetic to the world’s view, we find personal gain or notoriety, and as a result we sell out Christ a little bit at a time. As Christ told us, we are either with Him, or against Him. We cannot allow ourselves to have our bond with the Lord become compromised because of a sympathetic ear to the world. We can be empathetic all day long, We can try to understand, we can work to see opposing viewpoints, and search for common ground, but what we can not do is betray Christ by siding with the world in the name of peace. Debate is good, and Christ told the Disciples that they should not fear when they have to speak in front of the authorities, for the Holy Spirit will fill their mouth with the words they need. He will do the same for us. There is no amount of material things that could tempt a heart bound to the Lord, but a heart that has become sympathetic…..well thirty pieces of silver just might do the trick. In a few short days Christ will hang on the cross, He will suffer such human stress that his skin will weep blood tinged sweat, He will be beaten, He will be spat upon, He will live through such brutality that it is not imaginable. He has done that for you, not us, not the world, but on a very deep, personal, and individual level, He gives His life blood. Do not betray that love, do not allow the world to turn you sympathetic to their cause.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

The New Covenant Church

www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

<))))><