After the woman anointed Jesus with an expensive ointment, Judas Iscariot left the scene and went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. And the chief priests were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money. At that point, Judas Iscariot began to seek to betray Jesus. (Mark 14:10-11). There are a couple of questions that we can ask about Judas Iscariot. Who is he? How did he end up betraying Jesus? Judas Iscariot is one of the apostles that Jesus specifically called to follow him, like Peter, James, John, Matthew, and the rest of the apostles. Judas Iscariot experienced performing miracles when Jesus sent them out two by two to witness to people (Mark 6:7). He saw Jesus calm the storm and walk on water. He saw how Jesus miraculously multiplied the loaves and the fish to feed the five thousand people (Mark 6:32-44). There is no doubt that Jesus showed His love towards him. Jesus washed his feet just like the other disciples.
With all the experienced that Judas Iscariot had with Jesus, his heart still had not completely surrendered to Jesus. He never completely loved Jesus. He was still attached to the material things of this world, such as money. He still wanted to have his own ways instead of trusting God's plan in his life. He was very close to Jesus, yet his heart was far from Jesus. As a result, he did something that led him to kill himself. It is said that many people are like Judas Iscariot today. Judas Iscariot represents those who read the Bible and never applied the Word in their lives. People go to church but never know Him through His Word. Serve God but in vain and give money to God only to bribe God.
Only God knows our hearts; we can never hide our hearts from God. He sees everything. I pray that when God examines our hearts, He will see that we love Him. A love that leads us to surrender our lives to Him. In the end, only those with a genuine relationship with God will enter Heaven and be with Him for eternity. So I encourage us to be serious about our relationship with Jesus because we will never know when we will see Him face to face. If we struggle to love Jesus, we first need to pray and ask Jesus to help us love Him by surrendering our life to Him. The second thing we need to do is get into fellowship and a church where we can grow our relationship with Him.
Ask yourself these questions: Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Do you love God? How do you have a relationship with Jesus? How do you love God?
Write down all the worries you face today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, you know everything in my heart. You know if I truly love you or not. Please help me to love you and surrender my life completely to you. Please help me not to be afraid to surrender everything to you. Please help my unbelief. Your ways are better than my ways. You know what is best in my life. In Your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.