Stop Washing Your Hands

Matthew chapter 27 speaks of the account of Jesus trial before Pilate, His beating, and His death. If you claim to follow Christ, there is no way to simply just read this and move on to other things. Every time I pass through this chapter my heart and soul is convicted all over again to realize that this loving God would pay such an ultimate price for me.

I focused today on His trial that was held under the direction of Pilate. Pilate held within his grasps the opportunity to release Jesus. He had the privilege to look into the eyes of Christ...he heard even from his wife concerning a nightmare she had concerning this man. One has to believe that he knew deep within his heart that this man called Jesus was innocent.

Yet, the crowds cried, "crucify Him!"

(Winter)
Forest Hill, MD

Knowing that he released one prisoner a year during the Passover, Pilate came up with this 'brilliant' plan that he would put Jesus up against Barabbas (a notorious murderer)...surely the crowds would want to release Jesus over this man. But we all know the rest of the story...Pilate washed his hands before the crowd as a symbol of deferring all responsibility of Jesus death from himself.

The crowds still affect us today. We have these God inspired dreams and passions that He places within us...yet we try to defer all responsibility to the shouting of the voices around us. We do our best to trade off what we know are the right decisions, then symbolically wash our hands trying to deflect what that is truthfully ours to begin with.

Today, each of us holds within our grasps the opportunity to do the right thing. To make the decisions that, while they may go against the grain, are the God-ones to make.

You can wash your hands all you want to and claim to not be influenced by the 'crowd' of noise shouting...but every single one of us will stand before Him one day and will have the privilege of looking into His eyes just as Pilate did.

Right then and there, it is going to hit you...It was my decision to make all along.

(Snow Drive)
Forest Hill, MD

Let it sink in now...

"God's ways are not mans ways...neither are His thoughts our own." Stop washing your hands and deflecting the choices you make to 'others'.

Pilate could never get this choice he made off his hands.

If we continue to let our personal God-decisions be influenced by the crowd, we might just be destroying the dream He has planned all along to accomplish with us. Take some time and block out the voices...get alone with Him and make a God-Decision. It might not get you a pat on the back or 5,000 Facebook friends...but it will get you two words that will ring in your heart for all eternity - "Well done."     

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