Articles
Spoiled
Right now, in your refrigerator I’d venture to guess there is probably a container of leftovers (or 2 or 3). Perhaps it’s that bowl of spaghetti or the take home bag from the restaurant the other night. You kept the food because, at the time, it was good, and you wanted to be able to enjoy it later. Until the day when it’s not! As we all know, there comes a point when the best of meals spoils in the fridge as it succumbs to the influence of bacteria and time.
The same thing can happen to people, though not from something quite so scientific as bacteria. Rather, sinful elements are introduced to our lives which, given time and space to grow inside us, can result in the spoiling of a soul, heart, mind, and attitude.
Consider as an example the Bible’s preeminent villain, Judas. The man who betrayed our Lord for a bag of silver and sealed the deal with an unholy kiss. Theologians have debated for centuries the nature of Judas’ wickedness. As the betrayer in God’s predetermined scheme of redemption, was he evil at his core or was it something that developed over time?
On one level we could argue Judas was simply filled with an evil disposition. After all, John 6:70-71 tells us Jesus knew something about his heart and future when he said, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” Yet there are some other details that must be considered. For one, the fact that Judas was chosen at all shows that he had, at one point, desired to do good. The 12 were selected by Jesus after a long night of prayer (Luke 6:12) and were given the authority to preach and cast out demons (Mark 3:13-15) roles Judas actively (and presumably successfully) took part in.
Somewhere along the way, though, he succumbed to temptation and things began to change. Namely, greed took hold, and he started helping himself to the money in the group’s treasury (John 12:6). This habitual practice created an environment in his heart for the ultimate evil to grow like mold on yesterday’s spaghetti. As the time drew near for Jesus’ last supper with the disciples, Matthew records, “Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. So, he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd” (22:3-6).
My point is that a spoiled life is rarely (if ever) the situation of an innately evil personality. It’s the product of change and time. Judas’ greed led him to develop a habit of stealing which led him to betray Jesus. I would argue, then, that Judas WENT bad instead of WAS bad. His downfall is a stark warning for us all. As God’s creature, you are good at heart. However, if we let evil thoughts and actions go unchecked, our hearts and minds can ruin. May God give us the wisdom, humility, and insight to deal with unholy elements in our lives so that we don’t wind up spoiled like last week’s leftovers.
