A while ago, I made a personal decision to focus more on who I was becoming rather then what I was getting. Simply put, it is not the getting that makes us valuable but rather the becoming. The person we become will determine where we will be and what we will do with our life.
The other day I was reading in the New Testament about Judas. Now if you don’t know who Judas is, the scriptures tell us that he was one of the chosen twelve disciples that followed Jesus. I had probably read this story a handful of times prior but it was not until this last time that I actually “got it” and wow did it ever hit me!
Scriptures tell us that Jesus’ ministry grew and became very successful; healing, praying and teaching folks everywhere He went. In fact He became so successful throughout the land the Pharisee’s caught wind of what was going on and wanted it stopped as they felt threatened. Not only did they want it stopped, they wanted Jesus arrested for blaspheme.
Well, there was probably no better way to get to Jesus than to have someone close to him “give him up”. So the authorities called upon Judas. According to the scriptures, they paid Judas a sizeable fortune (30 pieces of silver) to take them to Jesus and reveal Him to them, and that is exactly what happened. Judas gave up his best friend for a fortune of wealth. Then, Jesus was taken into the hands of the people who would then beat and torture Him.
Afterward, it did not take Judas long to figure out that he clearly made the wrong choice in giving up his friend. In fact, he took his fortune back to the very folks with whom he made the agreement with and “threw” the silver back to them, trying to convince them to let Jesus go. They would do no such thing and both Judas’ and Jesus’ fate were sealed. This is where I “got it”.
In the beginning, Judas only thought of the wealth. He thought of all the things he could buy with his money. The finer things in life would soon be his, and I bet he even believed all of his dreams of material things would soon come true. Just the opposite happened!
You see, eventually, Judas could not live with himself and who it was that he had become, because he had become a traitor. Not only did he give up his friend in exchange for immediate wealth, he also gave up his ideals, morals, character and most importantly, he gave up who he was. Later in the story, we hear that Judas eventually took his own life because of who he became.
Everyday, most of us go out into this big bad world and exchange either goods, products, or services for money, which we call a pay check. This is the way our world is set up and obviously there is nothing wrong with it. But after reading this story, I learned something very powerful.
The person you and I become is and always will be far more important than what we get in return. It does not matter if we make a million dollars at “something.” If that particular “something” does not help us become somebody we admire, look up to and love. Then really…have we gained anything?
Have a great Friday and an even better weekend.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
No comments:
Post a Comment