by Max Lucado
“Wish good for those who harm you; wish them well and do not curse them.� Romans 12:14 (NCV)
It would be hard to find someone worse than Judas. Some say he was a good man with a backfired strategy. I don’t buy that. The Bible says, “Judas . . . was a thief” (John 12:6). The man was a crook. Somehow he was able to live in the presence of God and experience the miracles of Christ and remain unchanged. In the end he decided he’d rather have money than a friend, so he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. . . . Judas was a scoundrel, a cheat, and a bum. How could anyone see him any other way?
I don’t know, but Jesus did. Only inches from the face of his betrayer, Jesus looked at him and said, “Friend, do what you came to do” (Matthew 26:50). What Jesus saw in Judas as worthy of being called a friend, I can’t imagine. But I do know that Jesus doesn’t lie, and in that moment he saw something good in a very bad man. . . .
He can help us do the same with those who hurt us.
You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/11/14/ml_finding-good/
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Max Lucado
From: Just Like Jesus
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1998)
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/info/view/about_max_lucado/