Judas had followed Jesus for years when he betrayed Him. It’s hard to believe someone so close to Him could do that. The one clue that I can find to that behavior is Judas theft. He had hardened his heart over and over for some time, taking money from the funds that they all shared.

That frightens me…because I don’t see myself as a big betrayer, but I do see small patterns of sin in my life. And if a small pattern of sin in my life has the potential to lead up to a big failure or a behind-the-scenes heart change where I begin living a different life privately than I do publicly, I will begin taking my small sins a lot more seriously.

Sin always takes us further than we want to go and spreads into other areas of our lives far more than we can ever realize at the time we are taking the action.

This week I look far more critically at my “small” sins and resolve to try to get everything I do to fall in line with my love for Jesus.