I was sitting in History class today thumbing through the notebook I had with me, you would think it would be one designated for history… Nah, not that organized. Anyway, I came across a note I had written, I’m not sure when but I remember writing it, it said: “sin whispers to the heart of the evil man, Choose Barabbas.” I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Occupy Wall Street movement and the general direction America seems to be heading in. When Jessica and I came to Lynchburg we had a burden on our heart for our country, and we still do, but one of the things we have noticed is how inwardly focused everyone seems to be. Now that comes as no surprise, but the depth of the problem really is surprising. When you think back to the founding of our country and the principles we stood for then, it’s hard not to wonder, what happened? How did Harvard go from a Puritan Christian School to one of the most liberal institutions in our country? How did we go from mandatory church attendance for the army under General Washington to church services in the capitol building under President Thomas Jefferson, to now the courts say that Forsyth County cannot even have prayers to Jesus before their commissioners meetings? How did we get here? The Church is great at pointing to the world and letting them know how bad they are, but not so great at looking introspectively to see our own faults. The Church is failing, and if the pattern continues, in a few years it will be irrelevant. We have people in America in the streets calling for an overthrow of our government, and the destruction of the Jewish people, we dropped the ball somewhere. The good news is we can pick it back up. It starts with you, the note I had written, “Sin whispers to the evil man, choose Barabbas” comes from two passages of scripture Psalm 36 and Matthew 27:20.
Psalm 36 says: “1 Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. 2 In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.” (NLT)
Matthew 27:20 “Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death.”
I can just see the priest slithering through the crowd whispering to the people “Choose Barabbas, Kill Jesus, Choose Barabbas, Kill Jesus…” Satan whispers the same thing to you today,” choose Barabbas, Kill Jesus,” Which will you choose? Whenever we choose to do that which is contrary to Jesus’ will for our life, we are choosing Barabbas, we are choosing our desires over Christ and telling him to take a backseat while we flirt with the devil for a little while. Oh Christians be careful, it is time for us to be a “respectable army” once more. One who lives up to the ideals we preach, just like Washington expected of the men charged under his command, we are held to a higher standard. We have to get it right individually before we can get it right corporately. See the wickedness of sin, take your eyes off of yourself and your neighbor, and fix the on Christ, he is the standard; deny the whispers, and Choose Christ!
Luke
November 1, 2011
