Letting Pride Go By

At work this past week, I came across an engraving of Judas receiving the thirty pieces of silver from the chief priests, the price at which his betrayal of Jesus was purchased.  It is easy for me to look back through twenty centuries of time, from the other side of Jesus' resurrection, and judge Judas for such a monumental and inexcusable betrayal.  And yet, I am forced to ask myself if the absence of thirty pieces of silver in my own pocket makes me any less guilty than he?  When I am honest with myself I know that I am as guilty as Judas, for I have betrayed my Lord for far less than a bag of silver.  Whether it is a glance to satisfy the lust of the flesh, or a decision made on the basis of my own ambition rather than the will of God, every day I recognize that there are still parts of my spirit in full-fledged rebellion against what God is trying to do in my life.  This recognition during these weeks of reflection could bring with them a load of guilt capable of crushing the soul, but my eyes have fixed their gaze on the light that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the hope that God is capable of accomplishing in me far more than I could ever accomplish in myself.  I have found these words from the hymn "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" by Elizabeth Clephane representative of this hope:

"I take, O cross, your shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let my pride go by, to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross"


Justin Simmons