How do you make decisions?
Luke 23:22 (NIV84) For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”
Pilate wanted to let Jesus go. If is obvious when reading the text that he did not want to kill Jesus. The above was the third time that he tried to convince the Jews that he didn’t deserve death. They would have none of it. They wanted Jesus dead. So Pilate gave in to their demands.
How about us? Do we, when we have the authority and power to do, to act, to decide, have the strength to say no to the demands of others? Are we swayed by fear? Is fear of rejection, fear of trouble, fear of being wrong factors in our decision making? We all have power to decide things. Whether you are in management at a company or parents of children or maybe you have nobody who is “under” you, but you have to decide for yourself, do you do what you know to be right or are you swayed by demands? Your teenager wants to go with friends you don’t like, your spouse wants you to give into their point of view, your body is craving a half gallon of ice cream which is on nobody’s diet plan, do you stick to what you know is right?
Nearly all of us do give in from time to time, some more than others. The question we have to answer is why. Why do we give in to demands? What is it inside of us, what is our thinking, what are we trying to avoid, what is the reason for our giving in? The deep reason. It’s a question that needs an answer.
Luke 23:22 (NIV84) For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”
Pilate wanted to let Jesus go. If is obvious when reading the text that he did not want to kill Jesus. The above was the third time that he tried to convince the Jews that he didn’t deserve death. They would have none of it. They wanted Jesus dead. So Pilate gave in to their demands.
How about us? Do we, when we have the authority and power to do, to act, to decide, have the strength to say no to the demands of others? Are we swayed by fear? Is fear of rejection, fear of trouble, fear of being wrong factors in our decision making? We all have power to decide things. Whether you are in management at a company or parents of children or maybe you have nobody who is “under” you, but you have to decide for yourself, do you do what you know to be right or are you swayed by demands? Your teenager wants to go with friends you don’t like, your spouse wants you to give into their point of view, your body is craving a half gallon of ice cream which is on nobody’s diet plan, do you stick to what you know is right?
Nearly all of us do give in from time to time, some more than others. The question we have to answer is why. Why do we give in to demands? What is it inside of us, what is our thinking, what are we trying to avoid, what is the reason for our giving in? The deep reason. It’s a question that needs an answer.
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