Kissed Goodbye

 Artwork by Lauren Anderson

Yesterday I mentioned the Judases in our lives. We all have them. They are those who portray themselves as friends and say they love us, but they love themselves more, so they will and do betray us in the end. They are the ones who turn us over to be crucified! 

Jesus commands us to take up our cross and follow after Him. Wow, that's not really how the Christian life is advertised by many today. We hear so much of the, "Give your life to God. It will be grand," speeches that we are shaken when we read the words of Jesus, and He says to us to take up our cross. 

The cross is that which Jesus was crucified upon. So, we can logically surmise that if Jesus told us to take up our own cross, then we too will be crucified. Yes, some are martyrs and are crucified or tortured in the natural, but I want to focus on the spiritual implication of what Jesus said for us to do and how that applies to the Judases in our lives. 

Crucifixion brings death, and it is by no means a pleasant, peaceful death. It is long, torturous, and excruciatingly painful. In the spiritual realm, it is the parts of us that God wants to rid us of that are meant to die as a result of our spiritual crucifixions. I heard a minister say once that Jesus couldn't nail the nails into his hands and feet; it took a person to do it, just as it took Judas to turn him over for the processes leading to his crucifixion. 

My best friend read my blog yesterday and mentioned that Judas had to love Jesus. How could he not after spending all that time with him? I was asked. It got me to thinking. I think that's why we are told to love the Lord with all our heart. We can love Him and not love Him like we should, and when we don't love Him like we should, we are vulnerable to betraying Him. 

Those people in our lives that have been close to us, close enough to know where we will be and when we will be vulnerable to attack, they betray us with a kiss to be handed over for death. I've found myself as of late not wanting to handle that hand over in the same manner Jesus did. He put the ear back on that soldier, and I find myself wanting to say, "Yep, you got what you deserved there, buddy!" And then as soon as that thought crosses my mind, I feel conviction for desiring punishment upon those who have wronged me. I'm struggling. Can I be honest? I'm struggling to be like Jesus when it comes to being led to the cross. So, I pray, and I ask God to help me to walk in forgiveness towards those, and then I find myself being given the strength to pray for those taking me to my death. I've found myself, like Jesus, before accusers unable to say a word in my own defense, not because there weren't words that could have been said, but simply because God would not allow me to speak in my own defense. 

It doesn't feel good to be crucified. It hurts, and like Jesus, we will mostly be alone during the process of it. We aren't meant to buck against the process, which I do all the time. We aren't meant to curse those handing us over. We aren't meant to try to defend ourselves against the false accusations. We aren't meant to do anything but to cry out to God and say, "Father, forgive them."

So, look around you. Are you in a garden praying for God to take a burden from you? Are you being kissed by a betrayer? Are you being accused before the masses? Are those things in you that desire to rise up being put to death? View that kiss as a goodbye kiss to the things in you that need to die. Rather than looking at the pain of the process, look for the power in the final product!

Be blessed and be made whole,

Schledia