March 3, 2023

Acts 1: 16, 17 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago . . . concerning Judas who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus – he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” (NIV)

Your past doesn’t have to be a picture of your future.*

In this passage, Peter is speaking to believers in Jerusalem. You would think that he could get his message across just as effectively if he neglected to mention the part about Judas having been “one of our number.” His audience might have concluded that Jesus didn’t screen his top management team very thoroughly - if they didn’t listen carefully to the whole story: the Scripture had to be fulfilled. Jesus had to be betrayed and someone was going to do it. Judas stepped up and volunteered for the position. What I find intriguing is Peter’s admission that Judas shared in the ministry. It makes him sound like he was a productive member of their merry band. Until he wasn’t.

I knew a preacher who went to prison for income tax evasion. Another preacher, one whose preaching spoke to me when I was just a kid, went a little crazy and tried to kill his wife. Another, whose writing I found to be challenging and scriptural, decided that he was really a woman. Does their bad end cancel out the good that they did?

I don’t believe that scripture teaches that our good deeds and our sins will be weighed, our fate decided by which is heavier, but it is certainly scriptural to believe that anyone can repent and return to living a Christian life. The fact is, the second preacher’s impact on my life was not diminished by what he did later. His good influence lives on in his son who is a successful minister today. The articles written by the third preacher may have become tainted in my mind but you may have read a quote from him in one of these posts.

God can – and does – perform miraculous deeds, but for the most part he has left the work of the Kingdom in the hands of imperfect people. (Perhaps the miraculous occurs every time any good is actually accomplished by our inadequate attempts to be helpful.) Even Judas, who betrayed the Lord for money, could have chosen to repent and return to sharing in the ministry of Jesus. After all, the Lord accepts our repentance after we have betrayed him for nothing.

Believe in Christ’s forgiveness. Then start living like a forgiven person.*