To Encourage You

John 19:10-11 “So Pilate said to him, ’You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’”

Do you realize that you and I, whether or not we realize it, have what we have only because it has been given to us by God?  Even wicked Pilate, who crucified Jesus and had the authority to do so, was given that authority by God and God alone.  But with that authority came great responsibility.  What would he do with the authority he had been given?  His choice was to use that authority in an unjust manner, and thus to sin. 

So, does a thief have what he has because God has given it to him.  In a sense, yes.  While God could strike such a person dead for the sin of even thinking about stealing, when He doesn’t do this, the person only “gets away with it” because God has allowed him to – at least for a time.  Just as Pilate had the choice to do with his authority what he wanted, so a thief has the choice to do what he or she wants when the opportunity to steal comes along.  And that person also has the choice, once they have stolen something, to keep it, or to give it back.  The choices they make reveal the nature of their hearts, just like Pilate’s choices revealed the nature of his heart.

God has graciously given all of us His Word to reveal our true nature to us, and to give us opportunity, at least for a time, to see our sin, confess it, and forsake it – or not.  You see, no one really “gets away with” violating the Law of God.  Although, God in His incredible patience and mercy, gives us many opportunities to wake up to the condition of our own hearts and turn to Him for a remedy, if we squander those opportunities, we are responsible for what we do with them.  No matter what we may think about the authority, money, opportunities, relationships, or anything else we’ve been given, it all, ultimately, comes from God, and we are responsible to Him for what we do with it. 

So how are you doing?  Do you think you are a “self-made man or woman?” Are you going through life as if you are responsible to no one but yourself? Do you think that you, like Pilate, call the shots, at least in some area of life?   Well, if you think that, think again.  If Pilate, who crucified the very Son of God, had the authority to do so only because God had given it to him, then how can we, who have our own little corner of the world to act in, think we are not responsible before the Sovereign God of the universe for what we do?