Good afternoon y'all. I hope and pray that wherever y'all are, you are having a great day and a great start to 2021. Already a week in, just 51 more weeks to go. hahaha 2020 left most of us with a sour taste in our mouths so to speak and we are praying for better days ahead. The pandemic is still going full force, but the vaccines are coming out, slowly but surely. Just praying that they work and keep us healthy when we get them.
I have ignored my blog for a while. I sure haven't meant to, but I guess it has become my place to share my feelings about things and get them off my chest and then come back to it and see how God has helped me work thru those feelings. It really can be an amazing thing to see how He can help us make sense of what we see, feel and do. With that said, I'll jump in here.
I hope and pray that everyone who checks out my blog from time to time has a Bible and reads it. If so, then you can easily find the story that I'm gonna talk about for a minute or three. In the scriptures we read of the assignation of our Lord and Savior. We can read the full story of what happened. There was a mob scene in the midst of all the goings on. Pilate had washed his hands of the whole situation, letting them know that what happened next would be on their shoulders. That didn't relieve him of his part in the whole scene though, he still has to stand before God on judgement day. But the crowd was given a choice. There are always choices in life. Always. More than we can count in one days time. Choices to do this or do that; go to work or stay home, what we wear, what we eat, who we chose to hang out with, what we read, what we let into our brain, what we watch, what we let into our heart, what we let influence us, what store we shop at, cash or credit, what bank we use, where we buy gas at, what vehicle we drive and a multitude of many other choices in just one day. The thing is, we don't think about them as being choices because we've done them for so long and they are almost like a reflexive instinct instead of a choice. But, when we look at it like this, we can definitely see that they are choices that we make. The way we live our life that God has given us is definitely a choice.
So, with the choice that the crowd was given that day came a big decision. Set Jesus the innocent one free or set Barabbas free. Barabbas deserved the death penalty, Jesus didn't. In the big picture, the grand scheme of things, we know that Jesus' sole purpose was to be God in flesh and our means of salvation, to be in right relationship with His Father, Our Father. So, the events had to take place, no matter how evil and heinous the events were. What has always been so hard for me to grasp is the fact that there are always people ready and willing, at the drop of a hat, to do the devils work. It goes back to the choices we make, reflexive and unthinking. It goes back to the influences, places we go, what we let in our hearts and minds.
The people in the mob scene made the choice to be there that day. Even the women. It always goes back to the choices we make. When asked who they wanted to be released, Barabbas who deserved death or Jesus who was innocent, the mob chose Barabbas. "BARABBAS, BARABBAS, BARABBAS!!!!"
If you had been in that mob that day, whom would you have wanted to be released? A common criminal or an innocent man? I hope and I pray that, had I been in that scene, I would have been screaming for Jesus to be set free!!!!! This has always been troubling to me. I don't know what side I would have been on. I just don't. I just pray that I would have been one of those who loved Jesus as deeply as the other women that we read about in scripture. But, again, I don't know what side I would have been on. Do you?
It's easy for us to be here some 2000 + years later and say, "oh, I would never have done that!!!!!" I have even said that myself. But at one point and time in my life I was the devils helper. I didn't mean to be. You see, I was lost and in my state of lostness, I didn't realize I was lost and needed help that I couldn't provide for myself. Even in my state of lostness, Holy Spirit was doing a work on me to help see that I needed something. His job is conviction and He was doing a great job convicting me. I didn't know what I needed, I just knew I needed something. And when you cry out to God, even in anger, He knows your heart and He knows your need. He knows the source of your anger. He knows if you are truly searching for something and He also knows if you are truly seeking Him and just don't know that you are seeking Him. I hope this makes even just a little sense to someone. So when I found what I was searching for and knowing it was God, thru the shed blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, a change took place in my heart immediately. It took a while for the head to follow suit, but it did. My life changed. My words changed. My thoughts changed. My actions changed. All because the Holy Spirit now resided in me and helped me to be better than I could be on my own. Jesus became real to me. The mob scene became even more real to me. Before accepting Christ as my savior, I could easily see myself as one of the mob. But now, I can see myself as one of the women who loved Jesus and would be with the other women, sobbing as they witnessed what was happening to the best friend they ever had. I can feel some of the emotions from that day.
I'm not perfect. Far from it. People that know me in person would never mistake me for someone that is perfect. Oh, if they had a grudge against me, they may say something smart like I think I'm miss perfect, but that is so far from the truth. Every day, I have thoughts, actions, deeds and words that are not becoming of a follower of Christ. I'm still in the flesh, so I have to to still wrestle with the flesh. I have to make choices each day that either represent the influence of my Lord and Savior in my life or choices that represent the flesh side of life.
A lot of people in that place that day made choices to be there. I'm sure there were some who seen what was happening and left. I hope so anyway. It's plain to see that mobs are not a good place to be UNLESS you are looking for trouble. Today, that's what people still do. My philosophy on that is "those looking for trouble will find it, and those who can't find trouble will make it". Just watch, that's the way it is. Those words are true. 2020 proved that in a big way. I'm sorry, but I don't have any respect for people, especially people who call themselves Christians, Christ Followers, Followers of The Way, who will put themselves in a mob setting and do the things we have seen done and even if they are not there, they support what they have seen done. Sorry, those are the devils choices and they have to live with and accept later consequences of those choices. Don't tell me you're a Christian, don't try to act like your a Christian. Show me you're a Christian by grieving over the state of evil behavior which is nothing but choices made by the people involved. If you support the behavior and actions we seen in 2020 and in the first 7 days of 2021, than your credibility as a Christian just went to -0- that fast. When we let our emotions control our choices, then we see what we have seen over the last year. A lot of people think they are saved. A lot of people are sadly mistaken.
The Bible tells us that things will start happening in the last days. Guess what, they're happening. The thing that we need to make sure of on a personal basis, "is my heart right with God, is my life in order?" If you are a rabble rouser, then you need to ask yourself these questions. If you use your social media platform to be disrespectful to decent human beings, then you need to ask yourself those questions.
I think that has been my biggest disappointment of 2020. Seeing people that I had once respected making mean, hurtful and hateful choices. These are people that I know personally. These are people that I know from social media. These are people that I know from blogs and you tube videos. These are people that you build relationships with and form a community bond with. These are also people that I no longer have any respect for.
When people let bad choices dictate their behavior and never admit their fault and apologize for their behavior, then I make no apologies, I have no respect for them anymore. It is a disgusting state of affairs when we act like criminals and expect that to be ok.
BARABBAS, BARABBAS, BARABBAS!!!!!!!! This is what the mob always screams!!!!!! Because they don't want their own sins brought to light. They don't even realize they have just turned the spotlight on their own sins.
I would ask us all to examine our choices a little closer as we move further into 2021. I know that God has convicted me already of some of the sins that I need to repent of and get rid of in my life. I ask Him to help me, because I am sinful and I can't do it on my own. He tells us in His word to "be holy as I am holy". There is one thing that I know, God doesn't ask us to do anything that we are not capable of doing. No, I can't be holy on my own, but with the blood of Christ, I can do anything that God asks me to do. You can to. We all can. One of two choices, be holy or not. As a Christ Follower, which choice will you make.
Something for us all to think about as we move into the unknown future. Make no mistake, God is already there and He is willing and waiting to help us make right choices.
Hugs, love and blessing to all. God loves you and so do I. Be blessed this day!! patty
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