Thursday, February 11, 2010

You've got a friend in me...

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13: 6-7


As I was reading in Matthew last night I realized something that struck me. When Judas comes to betray Jesus this is what is said:

While he (Jesus) was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for." Matthew 26:47-50

I don't know about you but I was stuck here for a little, thinking "Friend?!? I mean in what way is Judus a friend to Christ??" Knowing who Christ says are his friends in John 15:14, there was no way Judus was doing as Christ commanded and thus how could he be a friend. Well, Greek is a much more specific language as I found out while checking out what my study bible had to say about it. It reads:

"Friend represents Greek Hetairos, implying not the closeness and the affection of the usual word for friend (philos) but only acquaintance and association. It was used previously by Jesus in parables concerning someone who has taken advantage of a privileged relationship."

How often are we like Judus? We like to think of ourselves better than that, I mean no one wants to be compared to Judus even those who are not christians. Well, the sad truth is we sometimes are.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4: 1-3

What an amazing and privileged calling we have received! But how often we neglect and abuse it; we put other things before what God has called us to do and we love things more than Christ, then on top of it, we justify our sin. When we are doing all these things we hide the gospel and do not share it and we do not stand up for Christ.

Yesterday, I was given by God the greatest opportunity to share the gospel, someone specifically said to me "I was never brought up around church, I have no knowledge of religion or belief." Oh boy did I blow it! God gave me this perfect opportunity and I turned my back on Him, I sold Him over for comfort, just like Judus did for some silver coins. I was not worthy of my calling at all in that moment and I was a hetairos.

My prayer is that each day I would less and less neglect the privileged relationship I have with Christ, because in the same chapter of Matthew I also saw how much He was about to go through for me.

2 comments:

Lindsey Sromalla said...

Ashley, thank you so much for your honesty! Sadly, most if not all of us have missed opportunities perfectly teed up for us by God to share his good news. Something I try to do every morning is pray for boldness and the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone, and I've seen God use these prayers to pave the road before me and help me open up my mouth. What an amazing privilege we so quickly shrink away from at times!

Thanks for your blog, my friend! It's very encouraging/challenging and gives me specific things I can be praying about for you!

Love ya! Coffee soon!

LB said...

It is so tempting to turn away from what God commands us to do for the comfort of the world. We are told that we will have to suffer in order for the gospel to spread and in our flawed human flesh we turn away from discomfort at every opportunity. I know that I have failed many times to speak the truth, but instead decided to seek comfort instead.