August 19
Mark 14:53-65
The classic wife to husband question: "Do these pants make me look fat?" If the man immediately says no - her response is, "You didn't even look!" If he looks, and then says no - her response is, "What took you so long to answer?!?" And if he says yes - well, nothing good could come of that! Pretty much no matter what he says, it's gonna be wrong. That is what today's story reminds me of. No matter what Jesus might have said to the high priest and his counsel, it would have been wrong. Jesus was taken to the high priest, because they were looking for evidence to put Him to death. Even though the testimonies against Jesus were false and didn't agree with each other, He did not try to defend Himself. Even if He had, they would not have listened. Their minds were made up even before the arrest. They wanted Jesus dead, so they came up with a weak excuse, and He was condemned. Sometimes, we may be judged unfairly. We may be accused of things we didn't do, or we may be persecuted for our beliefs. Lucky for us, we have Jesus' perfect example to follow. "He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly." (1 Peter 2:23 NLT)
Principle: Those who aim to condemn will condemn regardless of the evidence.
Application:
1. How carefully do I examine the evidence before condemning others?
2. In what ways am I willing to suffer to see that the truth of Christ is proclaimed?
3. When is it best to remain silent and when is it necessary to speak up?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is why I find it hard to explain Jesus to non-Christians. It seems like no matter what the evidence, they have already made up their minds. Example - my brother was having surgery for cancer years ago and my mother asked us to pray for him. We did. His cancer was removed and he was healthy again. My mother still says how "lucky" we were. Her mind is made up and cannot make the connection.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with questrion#3...When is it best to remain silent and when is it necessary to speak up? I have several family members who it seems ask questions to disprove scripture rather than to learn. I believe like you said, Bob, they have already made up their minds. I know arguing is definitely not the right approach. Sometimes I just want to shake them and say why don't you get it? How could something so easy be so difficult. I need to really pray when I find myself in this position so that I say something they can cling to instead of something they want to dispute.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: I should be more careful. It is easy to jump to conclusions and end up with egg on your face. I have learned the hard way to not walk into a conversation with guns blazing. Sometimes a simple question brings an explanation that makes perfect sense and reminds me not to assume that I know the whole truth until I have collected all the facts.
ReplyDelete