KEY SCRIPTURE: John 13:10. “Jesus said to him, Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is clean all over. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you.”

  In our key scripture, the Lord gave a proverbial statement. He said to Peter, the one who has bathed only, needs to wash his feet because he is already clean, and you are all clean but not every one of you. The one who he referred to as not clean was Judas. Judas was with his team of disciples, yet he was not clean. From the Lord’s analogy, one could say Judas had not washed himself.

What made Judas not to be clean?

 Judas was in the team, yet his language and desires were very different. He was very covetous. He had a strong lust for money.

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love(lust) of money is the root of all evils;

Which some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows”.

 Judas had erred from the faith. He was in the Lord’s ’s service but never served the Lord. Judas had a different motive for following Jesus. His motive disqualified him. Jesus said he was not clean.

  Dear servant of God, are you clean? Are you serving Jesus because of the money you wish to get? Are you after souls or after savings? There are some men of God who organize programs with certain financial targets on their minds. The whole program is not about the transformation of lives but to obtain certain amounts to obtain certain material gains. Such a mind is unfortunately defiled. Dear child or servant of God, motive is everything.

  Financial gain is not the only wrong motive people may have. Any other worldly or carnal longings other than seeking the glory of God and the continual transformation of lives makes that servant of God unclean. The Lord said at the last day, he would say to some, get away from me , ye workers of iniquity, I do not know you. What criteria does the Lord consider to claim knowledge of His servants? When the person loves Him Jesus. In 1 Corinth 8:3, the Lord said If one loves the Lord, then the Lord knows him.” This implies that if one does not love the Lord, then He does not know such a person. In the case of Judas, he did not love the Lord. He loved the money that he would be stealing from the money bag he carried along. Love for Jesus is the underlying criteria for acceptance before Him.

 If your actions are of no benefit to the love of God, then you are unclean and have seriously missed God’s mark or standards. Love for God is God’s marking scheme for eternal qualification or disapproval.

 THOUGHT: MAKE SURE YOU LOVE GOD IN SINCERITY, AND YOU WOULD NEVER MISS GOD’S APPROVAL

FURTHER STUDIES:

Philippians 3:18 “For there are many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, who walk (live) as enemies of the cross of Christ (the Anointed One)”.

1 John 2:15” Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him”.