Title: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly/Topic: Church Life

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 5; Jeremiah 6; John 12

Scripture: John 12:4-6
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Observation: The ugly truth is that there will always be bad people among the the good in church life. Even among Jesus' own disciples, there was a faker. He covered his sin with religious sounding words and only Jesus knew he wasn't genuine. Here is an odd observation: Jesus allowed him to remain with him for his entire ministry and did not expose him to the rest of the group. At the last supper, Jesus spoke about his betrayer so that Judas would know that Jesus recognized the truth about him, but none of the other disciples realized it until later. Did Judas even know the truth about himself? I wonder. I have seen those who live lives deceiving others for their own benefit. They think they are wise and always recognize lies, but, in fact, they are often very self-deceived (2 Tim. 3:13).

Application: We are supposed to be on the lookout for those in the Church who are false believers because they can cause destruction in the Body. But we have to accept the fact that there will always be those among us who are not worshiping with pure motives. The more difficult truth to face is that any one of us can become one of those people. All it takes is to harbor sin in our life without repenting of it. Even a small sin, if kept hidden and unrepented of, will grow and pollute us without our even realizing what is happening. We are so good at justifying ourselves that if we keep going to church and engaging in religious activities and speech, we can become a “bad apple”. We must guard our own hearts and keep ourselves clean by constantly humbling our hearts before God and allowing the Spirit to examine and speak to us.

Prayer: Father, my greatest concern is that my heart remain pure before you. I am a poor judge of it's condition, especially when I am angry or hurt. Give me hearing ears to listen to the voice of your Spirit. And also give me a discerning heart into the motives of others; not for the purpose of judgment but for the purpose of restoration and , when necessary, protection of the Body. Let me walk in truth and speak truth all of my days.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.