I have heard several times “I am just not in a good place right now.”

This feeling often comes with discouragement and discontentment.

It is not good for us to live with this feeling. Lets look at Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and the signs that we notice leading up to the event.

Here are 3 Signs that Your Heart is in a Bad Place:

1. BAD NEWS MAKES YOU HAPPY!
   Judas went to the chief priests to figure out a plan of how they can arrest and kill Jesus. When he did, Mark 14:11 says “they were glad.”
   How terrible!
   Men desiring to kill another man. Men desiring to kill an innocent man. That made them happy to hear that. Their hearts were so against God that Bad News made them glad. When they heard of another person joining them in their evil, it made them happy.
   May God own our hearts. May we run from bad news. May we avoid and ignore gossip and slander and lies and so on. I Corinthians 13:6 says “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.”
   If bad things make you happy, you need to check your heart.
   
2. MONEY OVER INTEGRITY
   When Judas went to them, they worked out the betrayal deal based off of money. It depended upon how much they would give Judas. Mark 14:11 says “they promised to give him money.”
   In other words, if the price was right then Judas would betray Jesus.
   At that moment, Money mattered more to him than his integrity. Betraying someone should never be determined by the amount of money you get for it. Integrity is about who you are no matter who is watching and no matter the consequences. Judas was more into money than his integrity, and that is a clear sign that his heart was in a bad place.
   When 1 John warns against loving the world (1 John 2:15-17), his third point is “pride in possessions.” Greed and pride and possessions and selfishness are all signs that you need to check your heart.
   
3. OPPORTUNITY DETERMINES CHARACTER
   After the deal was worked out, Mark 14:11 says “he sought an opportunity to betray him.” This is just awful. Terrible. Judas walked away from the deal with a promise of money and a heart that was opportunistic on how he could do God wrong. Thats scary.
   Far too often, the situation does determine our character. And that is not right. When the lights are off, who are we? When no one will know, who are we? When our kids are around, are we different? When we are in the church building, do we talk or act differently?
   The truth is that character is who you really are regardless of the situation. Regardless of the Opportunity.
   If the right opportunity presented itself, and you were ok in that moment to sin against God, then your heart is in a bad place.

Those are 3 examples of our hearts being in a bad place. But there is one good example of a heart being in a good spot. And that is the passage right before this one. That is Mark 14:3-9. Go read that short passage, and hear of one whose heart treasured Jesus over everything.

When our hearts are focused on Jesus, our hearts are in a good place!