What to do with Your Judas?

Betrayal can be a hard thing to stomach. The one that was supposed to love you...the one you let into your heart smashes it to pieces.  We have all been there.  The immediate response is to wall up your heart.  Makes sense.  And sometimes, that is what is needed to give time for healing, but it cannot stay like that forever. As we approach Easter, I am looking at how Christ dealt with Judas. Here are a few ways to look at your Judas and how to treat them to bring healing.

Realize that they are there for a reason.  ALL your relationships cannot come to be unless they first run through the hands of God.  He doesn't allow anyone or any circumstance in our lives unless it first gets His approval.  Remember Job?  Satan wasn't allowed to mess with him until God gave the approval.  While this may be hard to accept, knowing that God is in control can bring ultimately a sense of peace.

Your betrayer will take you where you need to go... to your cross.  Judas was the pathway for Christ's journey to the cross.  Your betrayer will do the same.  The cross is a place of pain, but also a place of promise. We tend to shrink from our crosses...those hard circumstances in life, but maybe a better attitude would be the one of Jesus who said in Mark, "Arise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"  If we can see past our crosses like He did we can move from pain to peace.  Realize that God is working to take you to a different place through the betrayal.  He may want to weed out a sin, a weakness, or simply move you in a different direction.

Your betrayer is a Genesis 50:20 type of person.  You know the ones...they throw you into a pit {of despair} and sell you off {reject you} to the first bidder.  But here's the thing...no matter what pit your betrayer throws you into God has other plans.  He is the Mastermind of the plot twist.  He can turn your pit into a palace.  He can take your crucifixion and create life.

So what are we supposed to do with betrayers?

Wash their feet.  Love them and serve them.  The night of the Last Supper Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist and washed Judas' feet.  He served him knowing full well what he was about to do.  How did He have the strength to do that? At least with our betrayers, we don't see it coming.  But to know what is about to happen and love anyways?!  It seems crazy. Yet...

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.  So he got up form the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist...John 13:3-4

Jesus could love Judas because He knew who His Father was. He knew He was returning to God, and that God loved Him.  He knew that nothing...no one could separate Him from His Father.  We need to have the same attitude.

While you may no longer have a relationship with your betrayer you can still love them from afar.  You can pray for them.  Pray blessings for them.  You can refrain from speaking ill of them no matter how much they deserve it. If you still have a relationship with them there are a myriad of ways to show love.  Because when we "wash their feet" the pain they inflicted loses its power.

This is just one post in the series, Jesus and Judas.  To read more click on the link.

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