Re:Verse reading–Luke 23:1-27, 32-49 (day four)
He was one of the primary players in our story…Pilate. In his own mind, he was a man of importance and great authority. As Rome’s representative, Pilate was responsible for maintaining order in Judea. The truth of the matter was that Pilate was on shaky ground due to his mishandling of several prior incidents. Tiberius Caesar would not tolerate another misstep. Pilate was under great pressure to maintain order with the Jewish religious leaders. He even addressed Jesus, telling Him that he (Pilate) had authority over His life. Pilate was not in control…God had preordained the events in eternity and even the prophets had foretold the course of events.
How often do we try to take control of our lives? Thinking that we can handle the outcome or control the direction of our lives? There is a word…it is sovereignty. God is sovereign over all things. He has ordered our lives and history and we need to remember that He is God…and we are not!
I recently was aware that the main purpose of Jesus’ earthly ministry is NOT to teach people God’s law, take care of the poor or even to heal them yet He did all of these things. Jesus was concerned mainly with our spiritual condition.
God sent Jesus, His only son, to earth to take on our sins and to die on the cross for our sins so we can reconcile with God. Jesus knew His cruxification and resurrection were part of God’s plan for Him.
I do think we can plan our lives and pray that our plan is in concurrence with God’s plan for us. I truly believe that God is in total control of our lives and had already had His plan for each of us when we were still in our mother’s womb. It is with this knowledge that we should surrender ourselves to God if what we desire does not go our way. Turn to Him and seek for His guidance and directions!
Jesus is God; He could stop the cruxification but He did not. He obeyed God and accepted God’s plan for Him! When things did not go my way, I always believed that God had a better plan for me and I accepted whatever came my way.
God is sovereign and we must believe that he is in total control of the universe and of our lives! I am convinced that Jesus was concerned for our spiritual condition and by believing in Jesus and in God’s plan for us that we can have an everlasting life!