There are times when you hear very powerful words in the flesh, and the impact is felt in the spirit. So, this morning, while I was channel surfing, I came across a minister whose name I can’t remember but whose message still resonates in my head. If faith comes by hearing, then listen to this. He said that for somebody to hurt you, they have to be close enough to kiss you. WHOA!!! Beyond the biblical reference to Christ and Judas, the reality of that statement should have many of you shouting now. It certainly had me sit up and take notice. Real pain usually comes from those people, places, and circumstances you care about.
When your guard is down and you feel safe, you allow others to see you up close and personal. At these times, life teaches us that the kiss of death is real. Many of us, including me, are bleeding right now only because someone from our past knew the exact spot to stick the proverbial knife. Now that’s real pain because it was unexpected pain. It’s ironic to me that a true Christian should let the external world see the internal soul. The world should see Christ in us because we shout by who we are that we know whose we are. Irony might not be the best word to describe this, but the truth is that the ultimate kiss was a kiss of betrayal. The difference between me, you, and Christ Jesus is that He knew it was coming. He needed it to fulfill His divine mission. We’re blindsided by kisses that we should have seen coming all along. Think back for a minute to that devastating kiss in your own life, and I’ll assume that if you were rooted in faith, then the effect and aftermath should give us what it gave Jesus. I think it’s called testimony. The real trials and tests and temptations that I’ve survived have all led me to be able to testify to the truth of the gospel because, without that truth, I’d be dead spiritually by now, as would you. Instead, I’m here to testify that God is real because of all He’s done for me, despite all the sanctimonious, serpentine, sometimes self-inflicted kisses I’ve received.
Now, if the truth be told, I probably asked for them, by my behavior, denial, or even my desires. But the good news is it doesn’t matter anymore because, like Christ, I think I can see Judas coming. I’m not sure, as Christ was about needing to be kissed to fulfill the terms
of the new covenant. But I’m sure my kisses are supposed to have a very positive effect on my testimony. I believe that for all we have been through, if we can somehow reconcile the impact it has had on us with God’s purpose, then the best is yet to come. All we
have to do is learn from it with the same perspective we now know Christ had. The betrayal was part of the plan. Everything after that tells us more about Jesus than maybe some of us want to admit. After all, we’ve all had to rise from the ashes of our own making when our Judases kissed us.
May God bless and keep you always.