I know I’m about to risk being misunderstood, but here we go. Jesus chose 12 men to follow him and he made all 12 his disciples. Where he went, they went because he chose them. They all knew what it was like to hang out with him in the streets, at parties, in the temple or wherever. In the verse above, Jesus made a statement in the form of a question. To be clear, Jesus didn’t talk like Christians today. If there is a devil in your life, you have been trained to blame someone else for the presence of that devil. However, here Jesus admits that He chose His devil. He doesn’t take credit for choosing the other 11 and then shifts the blame for this devil being in his life. He chose Judas. He chose the one who was filled with the devil just as He chose the ones who would later be filled the Holy Spirit. He chose ALL of the people who were in His circle.

He never said, the devil sent Judas based upon his pending betrayal. Oftentimes it is hard helping Christians because they are lying to themselves regarding choices they made and the consequences that accompany those choices. One key difference between Jesus and Christians is that Jesus consciously chose the one who would stab him in the back and many times we don’t anticipate the betrayal at the onset of the new relationship. However, whether we are aware of a future betrayal or not is not the point. The point is that, outside of family members, we chose the people who are in our circle.

To be clearer, I’m not talking about people committing crimes against you, but betrayal, in particular. Betrayal is basically when someone who you have reason to trust does something to you with the intent to harm you. Now, you cannot have betrayal without a level of intimacy. A stranger robbing you or raping you did not betray you because there was no reasonable expectation of trust. What they did was horrible and wrong, but it was not betrayal.  But a friend, which Judas was, had the ability to betray the Christ because of the connection they had. He was included when Jesus called the disciples his friends.

Here’s what some Christians do. When things are good, we talk about how God sent this great person into our lives, but then once they are not so easy to get along with or mistreat you, you say the devil sent them. And once the relationship is over, you tell people the devil sent them instead of being honest with yourself and the world that you chose this person to be part of your inner circle who you now see as the devil. You say the devil sent your ex-spouse, your ex-boyfriend, or so forth.

Here’s why this is so important!

The power of your life rests upon the foundation of truth. There is no power in blame because blame holds someone else responsible for your life.