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In my last reflection I began thinking through the relevance of the question, "What is your "Achilles' heel"? While many points of weakness or vulnerability change with the changing seasons of life, there are some areas of vulnerability that seem to be "evergreens"; i.e. they are always present.
For those in leadership positions, there are three classics. One of our college lecturers summed them up thus: "Gold, Gals and Glory". Or, as Richard Foster calls them in the title of one of his books, "Money, Sex and Power". That got me thinking about some of the biblical characters who had areas of weakness that rendered them very vulnerable to enemy attack.
If Judas had an "Achilles heel", surely it was money. Or, to be more biblical, the love of money. A chosen disciple of Jesus Christ but vulnerable to sin when it came to money.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples — the one who would betray him — said, "That perfume was worth a small fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor." Not that he cared for the poor — he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples' funds, and he often took some for his own use. (John 12:4-6 NLT) Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, "How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?" And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus. (Matt 26:14-16 NLT)
The first 5 verses of Matthew 27 tell the sad conclusion of the story. Realising what he had done, Judas tried to reverse the dynamics of his decisions (plural). It wasn't just the betrayal decision that produced remorse but the many choices he made during his life that 'set him up' for this final, irreversible decision.
"But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6/9-10)
I wonder if Paul was thinking particularly of Judas when he wrote those words to Timothy? And what are we to make of the Old Testament character, Samson? What was his Achilles heel?
More about this man in my next post.
