Deep thoughts….

In my quiet time, I was reading in John 17 and came upon verse 12. Jesus is praying to the Father and says, "I have guarded them, and not one has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." I assumed Jesus was talking about Judas Iscariot and after further research, found it to be correct. The son of destruction. Wowza. Jesus kept and guarded the disciples, but Judas was doomed from the beginning so Scripture would come to fruition. I wonder when Jesus was choosing his disciples if it was hard to pick Judas? Because Jesus is God and is all-knowing, I believe he knew what Judas would do in the end. How difficult to choose this guy to be one of your main dudes knowing he's going to sell you out in the end!

If it were me, I would've totally given Judas the menial disciple/friend jobs. Like, "Hey, Jude-dog, could you go scout out some good teaching locations in Galilee? I know it's like a 2-day walk but if you could go ahead and get started on the trek that would be awesome. We'll catch up later. 'Preciate it." Or, "Yo, J, I'm gonna need a headcount for the next miracle. I mean, I'm guesstimating five thousand but if you could get me a count that'd be greeaaatttt." And just for kicks, "Hey buddy, I'm going to be walking on water here in a few and was wondering how cold the water is. If you could jump in and just let me know about how cold we're talking it would be much appreciated. I mean, if it's freezing I'll go ahead and self-heat my feet. Thanks, bruh."

Obviously, Jesus would never have done those things. He "came not to be served, but to serve".  But me? I'm just a sinner saved by grace, so I would've totally done those things to Judas. If I knew my friend was going to burn me in the future, I'd probably keep them at arm's length. Scratch that, a football field's length. Let's be honest, I wouldn't have picked him at all to be my friend. But, I think Jesus probably treated Judas with love and respect as He did all the other disciples. I mean, on the night Judas betrayed Him, He had just washed his feet before dinner. First of all, I there's not a chance I would be washing his feet, but if I had to, I would wash them in baby oil so all the dirt from the floor would stick to his feet. Because in situations like this I apparently revert back to my 11 year old self. This is why He's God and I'm not (among millions of other reasons).

So let's all be thankful today that:

1. Jesus loves us all the same

2. I am not in charge of salvation because clearly I would be biased.