Our New Testament reading for today in Matthew chapter 26, verses 47-68, describes how Judas betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Loving Jesus the way that I do and being as appreciative of all his incomparable qualities of personality and character as I am, it is hard for me to imagine how anyone who knew the Lord could ever reject Him, much less betray Him!
The fact remains, though, that Judas did that very thing…even after having witnessed His awe-inspiring miracles, seen His incredible compassion for the hurting, sensed His passion for social justice, listened to His life-changing teaching, and walked along side Him hour after hour down the dusty roads of Galilee. As the Gospel accounts unfold, we not only see huge crowds thronging the Master as He went about doing good, but we also see wily Pharisees scheming against Him, sophisticated Sadducees sneering at Him, and arrogant Romans mocking Him. Although the biblical record clearly states that the “common” people heard Him gladly, not everyone was His fan…some were His enemy.
As I reflect back upon that astonishing reality, I would like to think that had I been alive at that time I would have recognized Him for who He was and that I would have quickly received Him into my life with open arms. Deep in my heart, though, I wonder if that would have been true or if I would have been deceived the way so many others around Him were. When I examine my own heart and history closely enough, I am reminded that there have been far less momentous moments in my own life when the enemy has succeeded in blinding my eyes to the truth about someone, who they really were, what they were really like, or why they said or did some particular thing.
Has that ever happened to you…? Have you ever rashly judged someone’s motives or succumbed to the temptation to imagine that you knew exactly what they were thinking without having any specific evidence to support your wrong conclusion? The Holy Spirit, of course, sometimes transmits His wisdom and knowledge to our hearts through what we call a “word of wisdom,” or a “word of knowledge,” but it is wise to be very prudent regarding these things. Not only do we all “know in part and prophesy in part,” as the Apostle Paul put it in his Letter to the Corinthians, but he also commanded us to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits to see if they be of God.”
Why does Satan work so hard at trying to get us to believe things about others that are not true? As the “Accuser of the Brethren,” he knows how effective spiritual slander is at dividing God’s people so they will miss the mark and fail to fulfill their calling. He knows full well that, “United, We Stand; Divided We Fall.”
When you receive this email, I encourage you to pray these words,
“Heavenly Father, Help me to overcome Satan’s attempts to deceive my heart and my thoughts. Help me to see people the way you do. Help me to discern between your thoughts about other individuals and my own human responses and opinions. Help me to promote the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. In the name of Jesus, Amen!”
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