John 13:3
Rebecca Lightfoot
The devil knows firsthand the Awesomeness of THE Creator God,and HIS Great Loving/HEARTS Desire for all people to become HIS children through Christ!(2Peter3:9,”The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”.)The devil so despises The Creator God,that he wants nothing more than to turn us away from what GOD awesomely desires...turn us away away from a personal relationship w God our Father in Heaven!This is why the devil is so desperately set on destroying people....destroying me...by turning us away from Christ!The devil knows the excruciating HURT/PAIN that The Lord has for anyone that turns away from the Infinite Love of Christ!Therefore,the devil is always scheming a way to weasel his way/his ways into our hearts&minds!(1Peter5:8b,”Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”).There is a HUMONGOUS lesson about the devil and his methods/strategy for destroying us n a small bit of John13:2 where it says,”...the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot...”One of the most significant strategies of the devil is to place thoughts&ideas into our hearts&lives that are counter to anything that would honor God’s Awesome Love for us,&turn our lives away from what God desires to bless us with!This is precisely what the devil does w Judas!It was not “predestined” that Judas would succumb to the wiles of the devil!There was something n Judas that turned him away from the Love of Christ!Judas had been alongside Jesus for 3 years!During this time Judas had not only seen 1st hand the evidences of Jesus being God The Son/The Messiah,but he had also personally known The Love&Patience&Mercy&Grace of Christ!Yet,there was something n Judas’ heart&life that he was not willing to turn away from,and he probably had the same “halfhearted”/“double-minded” attitude about God that Cain had n Genesis4:6 that led Cain to his “bad attitude”/“bad heart”,when God asked Cain,”Why r u angry?Why is ur face downcast?”Usually,what leads to this kind of attitude with God is that we r not getting our way somehow....there is a selfish desire n us for something that is not being met!The Bible calls this an evil desire or lust(lust = consumed by desire for something!)of any kind.Even though Judas has every REASON to love Christ,there was something inside his heart/life that kept him away from this!James1:14-15 warns us about this-“but each one is tempted when,by his own evil desire,he is dragged away and enticed.Then after desire has conceived,it gives birth to sin,& sin when it is full grown,gives birth to death.”This is why we need to be so very careful about the thoughts we let ourselves b “entertained with”!Since one of the devil’s primary schemes is putting things/thoughts into our heart&mind that become deadly-become the very things that take us away
from The Life God desires for us to have,& away from the good & perfect gifts God desires for us(James1:17,”Every good & perfect gift is from above,coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...”).The Lord desires only GOOD THINGS for us,just as Jesus desired for Judas.This is why The Lord warns Cain(&Judas...&me)n Genesis4:7b,”sin is crouching at the door.It’s desire is for you,but you must master it.”And why n Proverbs5 The Lord pleas for us to “be attentive to wisdom,&incline your ear to my understanding”(verse1),so that we will know the significance of having discipline n our thought life&our hearts->keeping watch of what we allow into our hearts!Judas did not want to do this...a selfish desire of some kind had a hold on his heart&mind that he did not want to let go of it!The last verse of Proverbs5 has the same warning about this as James1:14-14 does when The Lord finishes the Proverb this way-“He(a person turning away from the Lord)will die for lack of discipline,led astray by his great folly(lack of good sense or normal prudence).”We must b aware of the devil’s schemes to mess with our hearts&minds by putting things into our hearts&minds that are detrimental to us...& possibly lead us far away from The Love of Christ...& then we must have the heart&mind disciplines that nip these things in the bud,before they turn into sin that destroys!Lord Jesus,this makes me shutter to think of how many times I have allowed the devil to put things into my heart&mind, & I do little or nothing about it.Thank You for Your Amazing Mercies&Graces that cover me even now as I lean into Your Truths that tell me of Your Great Love for me that motivated You to take all my sin with You to The Cross!And for the promises that You desire only The Best for me...through all things,as Romans 12:2 says!And Lord...lead me with Your wisdom & discernment to know when this is happening...& how to rid my heart&mind of them.