The Way To Love by Maria Hartman

What is the hardest thing you are facing?
Is there someone in your life that is hard to love?
I don't mean some friend from the past that you have lost touch with, or a neighbor you just don't 'click' with. I am talking about the in your face person that is part of every day of your life.

Do you feel like it is literally impossible to love even though you know you need to?
Do you ever feel guilty for your lack of love because you understand WHY you should love?
Well then, we definitely have something in common.

Our Savior too had a very difficult person in His inner circle.

Judas, the traitor. Judas, one of the intimate 12. Judas, the one Jesus loved and accepted even though He knew he was never 'with Him'.

There is no temptation which we go through that Christ has not gone through as well. The enormous difference lies not in what we face, but how we face it. Of course, Jesus is the ultimate teacher, then and now. Here is what He is teaching me through His Word.

When I read Matthew 26, (The Last Supper) recently, I was given something much more than a story of long ago. I was given a glimpse of HOW to do what I am called to do.
Please grab your Bible and carefully read Matthew 26:17-30. Get ready for a present day lesson you can apply to your life.

The time was Passover and the betrayer was present; he sat among the rest of the disciples within the intimate gathering as if he belonged there. Despite this, Jesus was able to treat all these men the same, even during this most significant moment. Only Jesus knew just how meaningful this time truly was. He was on His way to the cross. He didn't tell Judas to get lost or take a hike, (as I surely would have done), but He did say v.24 "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Jesus sent a clear message to Judas with these words, never minimizing his sin. Yet His responses were never based on anything other than love.

Jesus didn't let Judas change His focused mindset.
Nothing and no one should change my mindset either; otherwise I am controlled by circumstances and not by the Spirit.

Eleven Followers could not detect the counterfeit because the Master did not treat him any differently. Boy is that convicting.

Judas had to know that Jesus knew he was the betrayer. Maybe even more amazing than Judas being there was that Christ's love and mercy permitted him to be.

Judas left at some point to take care of business. This didn't alter Christs' plan or cause anxiety to Him in any way; He was completely able to separate Himself from what this man was about to do. Another lesson I need desperately.

Friends, there is no possible way you and I can unconditionally love those who hurt us, deceive us, and break our hearts, UNLESS we love like Christ. This passage has helped me to answer the questions in my own life, like: 'How do I not let so and so get to me?' 'How do I not let so and so ruin my focus, my day, my interactions with others?'

As I said before, the answer is not in what we face, but how we face it. Jesus Christ loved Judas not because he was worthy of His love, but because Love is who He is. I am not worthy of His love either, however I have it. How can I, a sinner, withhold my love from someone who needs to see a vivid picture of Jesus? My love cannot be withheld based on any opinion I have of anyone. As a follower of Christ, I am to be an imitator of Christ.

Haven't I denied Christ at times and in ways I regret, and yet He never tells me He doesn't want me anymore. In fact He tells me He will never leave me nor forsake me. His Word is independent of my actions, and my commitment to love needs to be independent of anyone else's actions as well.

For today: Friends there is SO much here. Christ lived out every single word He ever said. And not only has He has never asked us to do something that He did not beautifully model, He has never asked us to do what He has not already made provision for... through the POWER of HIS SPIRIT.

How could Jesus love Judas when he rejected everything that He was and all that He stood for?
He remained focused on His Father; His eyes were on Love. Therefore the actions of another could not dim His joy or alter His eternal purpose.
Sounds like exactly what I need to do.

Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.