Trading off

Tony Myles considers Judas and what Christians can learn from his betrayal of Jesus:

Again - this is more than a moment in the Bible or human history. This is the daily struggle each of us faces when we toss around whether we will follow Jesus or trade Him for something else.

Some believe Judas made the arrangement with the Pharisees to betray Jesus on purpose because he'd grown tired of following Him; others believe Judas was a true "patriot" to the cause and was trying to force Jesus into a situation where He could exert His power, thereby revealing Himself to the world; still others think that Judas was simply greedy.

No matter what the reason was, Judas chose not to do one one simple thing - follow Jesus "as is."

How often do we want to trade the real Christ for a different version? Whatever our motive may be, we seem to want the Jesus who nods and smiles when we do nice things, but who is somehow blind and whistles while looking away when we intentionally and selfishly break away from Him.

You can read Tony's whole essay here.