You might not think that in the midst of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic my first blog post in nine months would be about the sin that dwells in our hearts, but you’d be wrong.

My current Scripture memorization project is Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse, John 13-17. I’m at the very beginning, working on the first four verses. I keep stopping in verse 2 at one phrase in particular.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him…

The devil put betrayal not into the mind of Judas, but into the heart. It wasn’t a passing inclination or a fleeting temptation Judas could shake off easily. No, the desire and intent to betray his teacher and friend was from deep within him, from the very seat of his affections and will—from his heart. Doesn’t that hurt? Don’t you feel the depth and blackness of sin in that phrase?

Before we’re too hard on Judas and give ourselves a pass, let’s remember that Jesus’ blood had to be shed for all of us. For a million betrayals, big and small. For our mocking and cursing. For our rebellion. For our selfishness and pride. For our unjust anger. For the way we lie and cheat and deceive in order to get our own way at someone else’s expense. All of these acts are acts of betrayal towards our Creator God. He formed us with his own hands and breathed his own breath into our nostrils for life. He gave us good rules and commands, pleasing boundaries to cause us to flourish…and we rejected them. Rejected him. We did it because our own hearts are sick and black and twisted.

Our Lord himself said, “Hear and understand: It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person…[W]hat comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” – Matthew 15:11, 17-20a

This, my friends, is how deep sin runs. Our hearts have to be cleansed—not just our hands and our bodies, not just our minds, but our hearts. The deepest parts of us have to be washed and purified.

Thanks be to God, he does this for us!

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. – Ezekiel 36:25-27

Through the Son whom we betrayed just as surely as if we had led the Romans to him ourselves, God gives us clean hearts. I pray that we constantly turn our hearts to him instead of to our old sinful desires. Judas never made the turn. He saw what he did and hated himself for it. We’re not to do that. We’re to recognize our sin and our need for salvation, and that should make us turn to God In humility and gratitude.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. – Hebrews 10:22

John 13:2 is a heavy verse, but I needed to reckon with its truth today. I needed to turn to God for cleansing. I needed to once again set my heart and soul and mind and strength on loving my God. If that’s you, as well, then I pray you let this verse’s truth speak to you, too. If you need someone to pray for you in this, I would be honored to. Wherever you are and whoever you are, my prayers are with you now. Don’t lose hope. Turn to him and receive mercy. Receive the new heart and the new Spirit that the Father offers.

**
Title credit “Lead Me” by Young Oceans