What Will You Give Me?

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Matthew 26: 14-16 “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?’ And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.”

Judas took it upon himself to go to the chief priests and offer up Jesus Christ to them for a price. He may have heard that they were looking for an occasion to kill Christ (verses 3-5 of this chapter). Scripture says that Satan entered into Judas and he went to the chief priests and asked of them: “What are you willing to give me” for Jesus?

I thought, how many times do WE betray Christ? We may not have a devil, but how many times do we betray Him with our actions, desires and behavior? Because we live in an age of grace, many times Christians give in to the temptation to ‘give Him up” for something we think is better. Disappointments in life will come and for those who are not living close to the heart of Christ will be tempted to give Him over for something that seems better. Satan has a way of deceiving Christ’s followers into thinking that in serving Christ we should never expect hardships, heartaches, disappointments or pain. But when the ‘reality of life’ happens- often those who have not truly sold out to the Lord, those who do not stay close to  the Master’s heart- will quickly become disillusioned and sell out to the world. “What are you  willing to give me”? they say.

A similar thing happened much earlier in time. Esau had just come back from working in the field and was hungry. His brother Jacob had just made some stew and Esau wanted some. But Jacob wanted something in return- Esau’s birthright- since Esau was the firstborn he was entitled to his father's inheritance. So Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup! Amazing when you stop and think about it! (Genesis 25:29-34)

How quickly we as Christians sell our birthright, our inheritance in Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver or a bowl of soup! Or- in modern days we would say--  to satisfy "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." (1 John 2:16) The reason being that we have never REALLY been totally sold out to Christ. Instead, we sell Him out. It may not seem like a big deal at the time, but over time we eventually lose out completely with the Lord and though He is loving and gracious to woo us back to His heart-we must take much care to not give in to the temptations the enemy places in front of us- no matter what we are going through at the time.

Oh, be careful disciples of the Lord. Stay close, very close to His heart; feel His heartbeat and the rhythm of His breathing at all times. This is the best and only defense against those words from the evil one— “What will you give me?” I believe that we as Christians can be so one with Christ, so enthralled by His grace and beauty that we won’t even hear the temper’s voice because we are so in love with the lover of our soul. We can be so safe, so satisfied, so much in love. Stay close to His heart!

~Donna

Dear Lord Jesus,
May I stay so close to You that I don't even hear the whispers of the tempter when he comes my way. I want to be one with You, safe within Your loving arms so that I will not give in and allow the enemy to tempt me into betraying You.
In Jesus' Name, Amen

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