Bypassing the Process

  Skipping, Cutting, Breaking in Line

Judas—a universally scorned, notorious name. No maternity wards echo his name. No one teases a Judas in kindergarten; no one shouts his name at the ball game. No one wants to take a Judas to the prom. He is chosen by Jesus; yet, Jesus says of him, “One of you is a devil.” Judas’s name appears last in every biblical list except for the one in Acts, where he doesn’t appear at all. So complete was his betrayal that the mere mention of his name embodies all that reverberate sinister and disloyal. Why? Because no one likes somebody who skips, cuts, or breaks in line. Judas attempts to bypass God’s process of promotion. Cain attempts to bypass God’s authorized plan and murders his brother Able (Genesis 4). Abram and Sarai attempt to avoid the process of God and let’s just say they make an ass out of themselves: “And [Ishmael] will be a wild-ass of a man” (Genesis 16:12 ). Moses attempts to circumvent process and leaves a trail of blood in the sand (Exodus 4:25). Peter, normally skilled with a knife, swings at Malchus’ head, misses and hits his ear (John 18:10). Such is the aim of those who success outside the will of God—they miss it by a mile. Judas attempts to find a loophole in God’s process and gets hung by it. When we disdain process, we abort the plan of God in our lives. A life that bypasses process aborts the potential deposited in it.

#DontFightTheDarkness