WHAT THEY DO

 

WHAT THEY DO

Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people, because they don’t know what they are doing.”

Sometimes we simply don’t know what we are doing. We mean well, but we don’t always realize the effect our actions have on others. We don’t always know what impact our words have on others. We need to take a careful look at how we act and think from time to time to be sure we are not creating a problem for others in the way we live.

The soldiers who crucified Christ did not understand what they were doing. All they knew was that they were following orders. It was not an uncommon practice to crucify people, and they just figured it was justified due to the obvious hatred of the Jewish leaders for Christ. He must have done something terrible to deserve such a fate. They did not know they were actually crucifying the Son of God.

We need to ask ourselves whether we, too, are guilty of crucifying Christ. We crucify Him when we turn our backs on Him, mock Him by the way we use His name, we treat Him as someone ordinary instead of the Son of God, we don’t take His presence in our lives seriously, we fail to live holy lives, etc. When we do these things, we are essentially putting the Lord back on the cross. We are not allowing Him to make a difference in our lives.

The soldiers denied that Jesus was the Son of God. They mocked Him as they tortured Him before they crucified Him. They made sport of Him and divided His clothes amongst themselves. To what extent do we deny Him? We are often more concerned about the approval of others than we are the approval of God. We only pay attention to what He says that please us. We fail to lift up the Lord and treat Him as one who is worthy of our worship, honor, and praise. We treat Him as if sin is no big deal, that He will overlook them and usher us into heaven in spite of them.

It does matter how we live. It does matter what we say. Jesus will not be mocked. We will stand before God some day and be judged by Christ’s righteousness. It is Christ in us that makes us holy. If God cannot see the difference Jesus makes in us, we will be judged unworthy of being with Him in eternity.

When you look in the mirror of God’s Word,, can you honestly say Christ lives in you?