Sitting on the Fence?

 As I walked hurriedly to catch a bus, I crossed the first green light where I impatiently stood for the next red light to turn green and my eyes wandered to her. There she stood searching the trash can picking out leftovers and hurriedly stuffing it into her mouth, my eyes dimmed and suddenly I understood why the second red light had stopped me right there; it was to see this woman. I had a chocolate bar in my bag, I had bought to give a friend, but instead, I handed it to the lady, she took it nodded and said “Dziękuje” which meant thank you in polish. I stood and watched her as she walked away, she crossed to the other side and with the chocolate bar in one hand she stretched the other hand to the next trash can looking for something else to eat.

I crossed to the other side, got on the bus while watching her until she was out of my sight. It got me thinking for a long while, With one hand filled with the things God has freely given to us but somehow the other hand deep down into sin. Forgetting what God has just done for  us.

I had a light bulb moment, Judas! it wasn't necessarily greed that made him sell Jesus. How could it be that someone had worked with Jesus, sat at dinner tables with him, been at the front line of all the groundbreaking miracles, will still want to rope himself doing business with the Jews? on one hand, he had been given a new life to walk with Jesus and be named a disciple of Jesus, on the other hand, he questioned if his old beliefs weren't true? would God actually come to earth as a man?
If the Jews wanted Jesus, maybe they had a point, if you looked logically he was doing things different from what they had known.

So now he was left contemplating and questioning if this new life was better than what he had in the past? He could just trade it all for 30 pieces of silver.

When I watched those Easter movies or read about Judas's betrayal, I for one hated Judas. Like why will you betray my precious saviour with a kiss? and for what, 30 pieces of silver? of course, it was all part of the plan to get Jesus to die for the whole world and give us a brand new life. But let's think deeper about Judas.

Judas was neither here nor there, He sat on the fence weighing his options, on one hand, he had a calling to walk with Jesus and join in spreading the gospel, to deny himself to follow Christ. On the other hand, he thought of all he would loose and then he decided to hold on to what he could gain. He went to the chief priests to say "what are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?" Judas wasn't approached and given an offer, he went to make a bargain. To give up his walk with Jesus and gain thirty pieces of silver, it seemed like a fair deal to him as he thought of ways to betray him without anyone knowing he was behind it.

Like the lady, who was still struggling to dig into the dustbin while holding on to the chocolate bar, on the other hand, He didn't see the importance of denying himself to follow Christ.

The life Christ has called us to is the best kind of life, at first, it might look like we are giving up things that are pleasing to us, but what God has in store is greater than what the world has to offer.  Luke.19:10 puts it "for the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost" and John 10:10 goes further to say " I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full."

Life in Christ is the real deal! Someone who saw us in our filth and yet loved us while we were yet sinners, He stood in our place and took the punishment we deserved and left us an inheritance and welcomes us into his father's house not as slaves but as sons.

Don't sit on the fence.

Don't throw away the best thing you have on one hand because the other hand seems to have what looks more profitable.

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."  -John.10:28-30