Trading for pennies...

I'm don't typically divulge dirty little secrets on the Internet, but today I'm going to allow you the privy of seeing some of my more shameful side...

I remember being wangled into some very raw deals as a child. It did not take much coercion for me to buy into raw deals however, for as at a youngster I was very ignorant in regards to many things.

For example, when I was about 5 years old my brother and I decided to "trade" Halloween candy. He was so generous and offered me 3, yes 3, packs of Smarties for just 1, and only 1, of my miniature Snickers bars. "What a deal!" I thought to myself. "3 for 1! That's awesome."

It wasn't until I put the chalky pure sugar candy into my mouth and then later tasted the absolute deliciousness of a sweet and salty snickers bar with far better texture, that I realized I had been duped.

I had traded in something of infinite value for something of little to no value and worse yet, I thought I was getting the good end of the deal.

While I have grown wise enough to keep Snickers bars to myself, I am still unfortunately much more like Judas Iscariot than I would like to admit.

You see Judas turned Jesus Christ into the "cops-of-the-day" for a bag of coins. He possibly thought that they'd just beat Jesus a little and question Him a little, and then release Jesus, and life would be back to normal - except he'd be rich. But then Jesus was sentenced to death, and those beloved coins that were so alluring only days before suddenly became like chalky Smarties in his mouth - only much worse.

Matthew 27:3-5 depicts Judas' own revelation of being duped like this, "Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' They said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself.' And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself."

Judas realized his stupidity a little too late so he thought. I can relate. We so often trade in good things, things of so much worth, for destruction and ruin and end up with a load of regret and despair.

(Be warned: Here comes the dirty little secret)

So often I have traded in my love for God for my love of people's approval. So often I have traded in things like purity, modesty, self-control, kindness, submission, and forgiveness, to name only a handful, for things like broken relationships, lengthy and silly explanations, excuses, guilt, and regret. So often I have traded in time basking in God's grace and learning from Him for extra moments of sleep or a movie I won't remember three weeks later.

So often I have been left with so much worse than chalk in the mouth.

But oh, how we don't have to remain in regret and despair! How I wish Judas could have understood that, and how grateful I am that God has revealed this to us through His Word!

I cannot end this without a reminder of the glorious grace of God in Jesus Christ!

While Judas unfortunately didn't seem to understand Christ, we have been assured in His Word that He is perfect at forgiving and that He can impute righteousness to the unrighteous. In our moments of trading in Christ for coins, we can be assured that Jesus has already paid for our mistake and that we can quickly confess, turn from our sin and live for Him with glorious joy and freedom again.

It is "Christ Jesus, [that] God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30.

When you taste that chalky substance in your mouth, join with me in remembering that it is Christ alone that makes us righteous, and that He is quick to forgive and abounding in love to those who call upon His name!

Oh, and if you ever get the desire to buy me a candy bar, make it a Snickers :)