I’ve wondered, at times, what kind of man this Judas was. What he looked like, how he acted, who his friends were. I guess, I’ve stereotyped him. I’ve always pictured him as a wiry, beady eyed, sly, wormy fellow, pointed beard and all. I’ve pictured him estranged from the other apostles. Friendless. Distant. Probably the result of a broken home. A juvenile delinquent in his youth. Yet I wonder if that is so true. We have no evidence (save Juda’s silence) that would suggest that he was isolated. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said that His betrayer would be at the table with Him, we don’t find the apostles immediately turning to Judas as the logical traitor. No, I think we’ve got Judas pegged wrong. Perhaps he was just the opposite. Instead of sly and wiry, maybe he was robust and jovial. Rather than quiet and introverted, he could have been outgoing and well-meaning. I just don’t know. But for all the things we don’t know about Judas, there is one thing we know for sure: he had no relationship with the Master. He had seen Jesus, but he did not know Him. He had heard Jesus, but he did not understand Him. He had religion, but no relationship. As Satan worked his way around the table in the Upper Room, he needed a special kind of man to betray the Lord. He needed a man who had seen Jesus, but who did not know Him. He needed a man who knew the actions of Jesus, but had missed out on the mission of Jesus. Judas was this man. He knew the empire, but he had never known the MAN. We learn this timeless lesson from the betrayer. Satan’s best tools of destruction are not from outside the church, they are within the church. It will die from corrosion within — from those who bear the name of Jesus but have never met Him, and from those who have religion, but no relationship. Judas bore the cloak of religion, but he never knew the heart of Christ. Let’s make it our goal to know Him — deeply.
Out of love for one another…….
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)
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Scripture of the Week
“Praise be to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, Who comforts us in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” ~~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Something to Smile About
A dog ran into a butcher shop and grabbed a roast off the counter. Fortunately, the butcher recognized the dog as belonging to a neighbor of his. The neighbor happened to be a lawyer. Incensed at the theft, the butcher called up his lawyer neighbor and said, “Hey, if your dog stole a roast from my butcher shop, would you be liable for the cost of the meat?” The lawyer replied, “Of course, how much was the roast?” “$7.98.” said the butcher. A few days later the butcher received a check in the mail for $7.98. Attached to it was an invoice that read: Legal Consultation Service: $150.
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. “In English,” he said, “A double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.” A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”
Think About It
Think About It
You Can’t Push a Chain
A chain is a handy device. You use it to pull a car
out of the ditch. You can hoist a heavy item. You
can use one to anchor a boat or secure a gate.
But can’t push with a chain. It will pull or hold,
but try to push and it’s pretty much useless.
People are a lot like a chain. When linked
together they can be powerful, if you pull them and
don’t try to push. You start pushing them and the
links go every which way.
Too many times we try to lead folks by just
pushing them. We’re in the back trying to get things
moving and it rarely works well. All that shouting
and cajoling and needling might move things an
inch or two, but the bang for the buck is
underwhelming.
If we stand at the front and start pulling,
however, things change. Things snap into place.
The effort is multiplied. The strength of the whole is
unified.
In any role — parent, teacher, mentor, boss
— that we want to help lead others, we would be a
lot better off if we try pulling instead of pushing.
– Barry Haynes, Hope church of Christ, Hope, AR