Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

May 14, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 27

22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

“I AM INNOCENT”
I am always amazed by the ignorance of Pilate in this passage. I understand that he was not a believer, and I know that he did not see things the way I do. I know that he did not know the truth and had never been set free by the truth. I do know that the truth was given to him, and he rejected it.

But this notion, that he considered himself innocent, just because he washed his hands with water and caved to the pressure of a crowd, is ridiculous. Here is a man who was in leadership, but who was not a leader. He was a follower. He was a coward.

Here is my thought today. Just because you see yourself innocent, does not mean that you are innocent. Just because you see things a certain way does not mean that is the way things are. It really does not matter how you see yourself; what matters is how God sees you. It doesn’t matter how you feel about something; what matters is how God feels about something. It really doesn’t matter how you view a situation or yourself; what matters is how God views it. If you have conflict with others, it doesn’t matter if you see your side and you think you are in the right. How does God see that? The Bible says that we tend to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Your opinion really doesn’t matter on the situation, what does God’s Word say? Just because you think something is right does not make it right. And just because you think something is wrong, does not make it wrong. What does God’s word say?

Pilate washed his hands in ceremonial water, threw the blame on the crowd, and thought he had excused himself from any responsibility. But he was so wrong. I would imagine, as he is burning in hell right now, that he now understands it better. Imagine what he would give now for just a drop of that water that he washed his hands in.