Faith Leadership: What Is Right VS What Is Profitable

“Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve” (Luke 22:3).

Have you ever watched someone count the cost of doing the right thing and choose the money instead?
That is the tragedy of Judas. Not that he never sat near Jesus, but that he sat near Him and still walked away.
Being of the number of the twelve. He had the position. He had the proximity. He had three years of watching the Bread of Life break bread, the Healer touch the leper, the Truth speak truth in front of him.
And he bargained it all away for money.

“What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” (Matthew 26:15).

Did you catch the horror of that question? He didn’t ask what was right. He asked what was profitable.
And in business, or in your career, it’s not all money that is good profit. It’s not always the offer with the most money that is the right one for you, and it’s up to you to always be alert and to do due diligence to ensure that the offer aligns with your values, is good for you and good for all those that will be impacted by what that company, that business, or that partnership is going to be doing. You just don’t always say yes because of what’s profitable.

Here is what stops me all the time in this story. Nearness to Jesus is not the same as surrender to Him. You can carry the bag and still betray the One who fills it. You can keep company with the twelve and still keep a private negotiation running in your heart.

But look at the Lord in all of this. Jesus is not ambushed. He knows. He moves toward the cross with full sight of the hand that hands Him over, and He does not flinch. The very betrayal Judas sold for thirty pieces of silver, God was using to purchase you. Think about this: man set a price on Jesus, and God turned that transaction into your redemption. What was meant as a sale became your salvation.
So the question is not whether you are near Him. The question is whether you have given Him your heart.

In Christ, you are not a follower at a distance, you are bought, kept, and held by the One who walked willingly into His betrayal so you would never be sold out of His hand.