For Thought and Meditation - Saturday, October 02

[Pine Baron]

Good morning all. Today's message is a good reminder, in the midst of all the distractions, of what is most important. Have a safe and blessed day.

The Power of Priorities - Pastor Greg Laurie

“‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, ‘He is not guilty of any crime’”
—John 18:38

A while back I asked a police officer who fellowships at our church what has been the craziest thing someone said when he pulled them over for speeding. A woman with a Chihuahua told him, “Sorry, officer, my dog ate chocolate, and I’m rushing him to the hospital.”

Police officers have heard it all.

Pontius Pilate had heard it all, too—every lie, every excuse. But he didn’t hear any of that from Jesus because He was innocent. In fact, when Jesus was brought before him, Pilate was unnerved at His calmness in the face of his own death. And Jesus talked about truth to a man who didn’t believe in truth.

Jesus said, “I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true” (John 18:37 NLT).

Pilate callously responded, “What is truth?” (verse 38 NLT). He was like a lot of people today—a moral relativist. Because he was a pagan Roman, he probably didn’t believe in absolute truth. Yet truth incarnate was standing before him. All he wanted to do, however, was get out of the situation.

He didn’t want to enter into that conversation. Pilate wasn’t going to deal with the issue, and he ended up sharing responsibility in the worst crime in human history.

Effectively, Pilate’s political career was more important than Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. In the same way, there are people today who choose their careers over Jesus. Others choose things over Christ. And still, others choose people rather than Him.

But don’t let anything or anyone become more important to you than God. It’s better to succeed in God’s eyes and fail in the world’s eyes. Nothing is more important than pleasing the Lord. Make that number one in your life.

[USMC87]

Amen, Without God I am nothing!

[dverna]

"He didn’t want to enter into that conversation. Pilate wasn’t going to deal with the issue, and he ended up sharing responsibility in the worst crime in human history."

That is not a good conclusion....

The death of Christ was not a crime...it was a necessity. A necessity guided by God. If God had another option to save us, He would not have sent Jesus to die on the cross. And God knew that would happen before it happened.

In the OT, every attempt to guide mankind failed. Even His chosen people rejected God numerous times.

We cannot know for sure if God knew man would fail from the onset of Creation. And if He did, why He kept trying and we failed. Without Jesus, dying for our sins, we can never be worthy to enter Heaven. So Jesus had to be sacrificed for God's Children...there was no other way.

Pilate was not to blame for the death of Jesus....Pilate was the instrument of God to put in place God's plan.

[Boaz]

Message is true . There's nothing more important in your life than GOD .

[Ickisrulz]

"He didn’t want to enter into that conversation. Pilate wasn’t going to deal with the issue, and he ended up sharing responsibility in the worst crime in human history."

That is not a good conclusion....

The death of Christ was not a crime...it was a necessity. A necessity guided by God. If God had another option to save us, He would not have sent Jesus to die on the cross. And God knew that would happen before it happened.

In the OT, every attempt to guide mankind failed. Even His chosen people rejected God numerous times.

We cannot know for sure if God knew man would fail from the onset of Creation. And if He did, why He kept trying and we failed. Without Jesus, dying for our sins, we can never be worthy to enter Heaven. So Jesus had to be sacrificed for God's Children...there was no other way.

Pilate was not to blame for the death of Jesus....Pilate was the instrument of God to put in place God's plan.

It was a sin for Pilate to sentence Jesus to death, because he knew he was innocent of crimes demanding death. Pilate's sin was apparent by what Jesus said:

John 18:11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

Also consider that Pilate was warned not to have anything to do with Jesus's death and was fearful when doing so. He acted for political survival rather than for being an instrument of justice. Pilate shared in the sin, aka "crime."

A person or people can be an instrument of God, yet sin when they are doing so. God judged Israel and Judah using Babylon and Assyria, respectively. Yet those Gentile nations were sinning when committing acts of violence (we'd call them "war crimes"). God merely pulled back his protection of his people and allowed her enemies to do what they wanted. Israel/Judah had been warned many times of what was coming and eventually it came.