What is Your Motive?

Mark 14:10-11 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
 
JUDAS Iscariot is identified as the one who betrayed him. (Mark 3:19b) Betray means to turn over, to give up. Judas turned Jesus over to the Jews. He gave up faith and trust in Jesus for reasons we cannot truly know.
    Betrayal is a terrible thing, isn’t it? If you want to hurt someone, betray their trust in you. They’ll harbor hard feelings against you for a very long time. Why do people betray those who love them? Certainly Jesus loved Judas. Why would Judas betray Jesus?
    There is much speculation. Most believe Judas was greedy, looking for a payoff. But he was quick to throw away his reward when he learned Jesus would go to the cross. Something deep disturbed the man’s heart. Perhaps he realized Jesus was not the kind of Messiah he expected. Maybe he felt he was in danger as he associated with Jesus.
    Whatever the motive for betrayal, it always begins with, “Me.” We remember Joseph’s brothers who betrayed their father and their brother when they sold Joseph into slavery. They were jealous. Genesis 37:20 “Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” Joseph also was his father’s eye on his brothers’ integrity to tend to Jacob’s flocks. Betrayers destroy for their own gain.  
    King Saul betrayed God’s anointing to make him king. Saul betrayed David’s commitment to his king. David betrayed his faithful bodyguard, Uriah, because he wanted Uriah’s wife. Israel gave up their God for the idols that led them to destruction. All betrayed for their own perceived gain. All, in some way, lost the fullness of God’s anointing on their lives.
    What would it be like to know God’s anointing, to become Jesus’ disciple and then betray him? We can likely think of too many occasions when we’ve betrayed our faith. We can, it seems, too easily give up our trust in Jesus because he’s not quite the Savior we expected. Our own desires dominate our lives. We are unwilling, perhaps, to adjust to the very difficult  things the Lord can command us to do.
    What’s your motive for following Jesus? Is it to get what you want? Jesus calls  you to seek what he wants. David repented of his betrayal. God redeemed him. God will do that for you, too.