Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: Psalm 19:14

why’d he do it? — April 9, 2025

why’d he do it?

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Bob wanted some guidance from God, so he opened his Bible and let his eyes fall on the first verse he saw.  He landed on the story of Judas.  It said, “He went away and hanged himself” – Matt 27:5. (NASU)  Bob said to himself “This can’t be right!”  So, he tried again.  This time he landed on John 13:27, “What you do, do quickly.”

This is the time of year when we consider the story of Judas.  Ah sad Judas, the apostate apostle who has never had a child named after him. 

The forever unanswered Judas’ question is, “Why’d he do it?”  Why did he betray his Master?  There are two common theories. 

1. He was motivated by greed. 

When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, Judas said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?”

The reason he said it, follows, “Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it” – John 12:5-6.  He was entrusted with the apostolic group fund and helped himself to it.

So, there are those that argue that greedy Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver to line his own pockets.   But there is a second theory:

2. He was motivated by patriotic zeal. 

The prophets promised that the Messiah would restore the nation of Israel to the stature of David’s glory days.  The Jews of the first century were expecting it to happen in their day.

There was even a political association called “zealots” that was determined to force the Kingdom into existence.   Simon, one of the twelve, was a zealot (Matthew 10:4).

And then came Jesus who presented Himself as Messiah.  His message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!”  – Matthew 4:17. His teachings centered around the Kingdom of God.  The disciples often competed for the positions of authority in it (Matt 20:20-24).

On one occasion the multitude got crazy.  John wrote, “Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone” – John 6:15.

At His triumphal entry, the crowd was convinced that Jesus was coming to proclaim himself king.  But things were not progressing toward that end.  The entrenched leadership of Israel had rejected Him and Jesus was not aggressive about seizing leadership.  He had business at the cross to take care of first.

Some believe that Judas was also a zealot and that in betraying Jesus, he tried to create a situation where Jesus would be forced to confront His adversaries and establish His Kingdom.    

Why’d Judas do it?  Which one fits?  I wonder if both may be true. 

Judas was clearly motivated by greed.  He used his position of trust to steal funds from Jesus.  So, what if the Kingdom were to come?    The disciples were promised to rule with Jesus.  Judas probably expected to be installed as the royal treasurer of the Kingdom where he would have fantastic and unfettered access to wealth.

Who knows for sure why he did it?  Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” – 17:9 (NASU).

But what concerns me is the condition of my own Judas heart.  For I fear that I too may possess quirky motivations that obscure the truth and possibly spoil my love for Jesus? 

David felt the same, which prompted this prayer, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” – Psalm 19:14.

He asked the Lord to do a heart procedure – to purify the meditations and motivations of His heart.  A perfect prayer for you and me, especially during this Easter Season.

A Prayer:  Lord, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight…”,

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you

Scripture passages are from the NETBible.com unless otherwise noted.

smackdown — January 1, 2025

smackdown

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I entered the room of a friend in nursing care.  Blaring on the TV was the program Smackdown from World Wrestling Entertainment.  The wrestlers were doing all their legendary moves: the tombstone; the piledriver; the powerbomb and the stone-cold stunner.

But what was truly stunning was that the person watching the program was an elderly, Great-grandmother who was missing most of her teeth.

I was amazed and amused.  It caused me, however, to consider my viewing habits.  My wife and I were recently watching a military drama on TV.  We finished the last season but found that we could purchase two more seasons from another provider. 

So, I spent $19.99 and began to stream it but we were quickly disgusted.  There was a barrage of vulgar profanity.  I had forgotten that the nasty stuff had been bleeped out of the seasons that we had previously watched.

This got me to thinking.  About that same time, I was reading through the Gospel of Mark, and I found some applicable words from Jesus. He addressed His disciples saying, “Take care what you listen to” – Mark 4:24.

His concern was the teaching of the Pharisees.  He wanted His disciples to be aware of the sinister way that evil teaching can penetrate and destroy.  

But I am thinking Jesus might look at my TV screen and also say to me “Take care what you listen to.” 

You see, as a teenager I cussed like a sailor.  But at age 19 I was crucified with Christ and raised again in the newness of life.  My life changed in every way, including my vocabulary.  I learned a new way to think, and to express myself when I hit my thumb with a hammer. 

But I find that when I watch a program with profanity or I’m around people who use it, it tends to energize and resurrect my old vocabulary.   Then when my thumb gets mashed, I may not spout profanity, but I think it.  And I don’t even want to think it!

The patriarch Job was concerned about the things that he saw.  He said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin?”  Job 31:1.

Evidently, Job had decided to never lustfully gaze upon a woman who was not his wife.  That was how he protected the sanctity of his mind and his marriage.  This would be hard to do, however, if his flat screen were streaming smut.

Did you know that you are 6 times more likely to yawn after seeing someone else yawn?  Our course you know that.  You may be yawning now just because it was mentioned. What we see and hear influences the way we think and act.

I learned that the first recorded use of a firearm was in 1364 A.D. So, we have a history of almost a thousand years of guns.  But what we do not find in history are people going into schools and malls and randomly shooting the innocent. 

Yet it happens today with a sickening frequency.   Could it be because we are not so careful about what we see and hear?  Could this be what happens when a kid fills his hours with violent movies and video games?

All I know is that what I hear and see affects what I think and do.  I have always treasured the words of David who wrote in the Psalms.  “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” – Psalm 19:14.  I have even put the verse to music. 

But how can the meditations of my heart be acceptable to the Lord, when I am hearing and seeing things that poison my soul? 

I flipped the TV off and decided to count the $19.99 spent as lost.  But what I’ve kept is of far greater value. 

A PRAYER: Lord this is a constant battle for me and many others.  Help us please!

This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord be with you

Scripture passages are from the New American Standard Updated edition

the horn of dilemma — February 3, 2021

the horn of dilemma

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The park was 430 acres of wild in Grand Prairie, TX.  Like all things Texas, this drive through park was over the top.  Yes, they had your standard zebras, gnus and giraffes – but there were also elephants and even lions who stalked the place – even lion cubs in the petting zoo.

We had never been to such a place and we had a 7 and a 5-year-old that needed to be wowed – so off we went.

With buckets of feed and the windows cranked down, we drove through the Jurassic Parkish gate.  We were in my old lumbering Chevy Impala (mindful that impalas were lion food back on the Savanna.) 

The car was quickly surrounded by a mob of animals with the craziest being the longhorn steer that tried to stick the span of his enormous head into our car to get to the feed. 

Then we encountered a lone rhinoceros.  I was stunned to see the behemoth trot up to my car.   I extended my wary hand and he clumsily swept the feed off and onto the ground. 

He lowered his head and vacuumed the pellets from the ground and then raised it up again, or at least he tried. His horn got caught on the under carriage of my car.   Oh boy!  There was an upset Rhino attached to my automobile. 

He tried to pull out – frantically jerking the car way up and then down as he did.  I think the kids may have been screaming.  OK I may have been screaming.  Was he going to flip the car?

He finally pulled away and we were left with nothing more than a dent.  (try explaining that to your insurance company?)

—————

As in all of life, I try to glean wisdom from my experiences.  What I learned was this, “I need to be careful about what I feed!”

Wait!  This principle is way more practical than you may first think.

You see there is a part of me and you that is just as untamed and dangerous.  The Bible calls it the “flesh.”   The apostle Paul put it this way, “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.”  – Romans 7:18

This beastly nature was put to death at the cross for those of us who have been saved. (Galatians 2:20) and yet, it still lurks – waiting to be revived.  “For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.”  – Galatians 5:17  

This beastly nature will be with us ‘til we are with Jesus.  But it can’t rule us unless we feed it.  Paul put it this way, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires.” – Romans 13:14.   In other words, “Don’t feed the animal!”

I was in seminary about the time a movie was released which centered on Amish life.  That sounded safe – right?  I wanted to do a date night with my wife to see it – but I needed to vet the movie first.

A friend had seen it and rated it 5 stars.  I asked about objectionable material.  He said – “Clean as a whistle – oh except one scene where the starlet was naked from the waist up.” 

Well I tried to rationalize the information away ‘cause I really wanted to see that movie.  But the Spirit of God began to needle me.  He reminded me about the beast. 

At the time I was laboring to learn Hebrew.  It seemed that whatever I learned on Monday was gone by Tuesday.  And yet if I were to see that movie, I knew that the image of the bare-chested woman would be forever imprinted on my mind.   I didn’t need it – so I threw the movie tickets away. 

There are just some places I don’t go because the beast is fed there.  There are some people I don’t hang with because the things they say and do, provoke me to do the same.  I’m very careful about what I read because it sparks the imagination of the beast.  I thoroughly review any movies or TV beforehand because I don’t want to awaken the beast.

One Rhino ride was more than enough for me.  I really do need to be careful about what I feed! 

A PRAYER: “May my words and my thoughts be acceptable in your sight.” (Psalm 19:14) 

Scripture references are from the NETBible ®