Morning, March 25
Go To Evening Reading
“Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Luke 22:48
“The kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it
will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever
a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence
for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer
to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the deceivableness of unrighteousness,
let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of the
enemy. The young man, void of understanding, was led astray by the
kiss of the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed
all this day, that “the much fair speech” of the world may have no effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not,
a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!
But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas,
that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord
Jesus; I am a member of his visible Church; I sit at the communion
table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. Am I sincere in them?
If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly
as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus?
Then I must expose religion to ridicule, and lead men to speak evil
of the holy name by which I am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently
I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been born.
Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me
so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false
way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love thee, Jesus, and though
I often grieve thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto
death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and
then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master
with a kiss.