Evil Thoughts
Evil Thoughts
9 When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. 2 And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
Matthew 27:1-2
They just couldn’t understand Jesus. Their whole lives was guided by scheming, politics, backstabbing and the desire to increase and so when the religious leaders looked at this humble man, he was a mystery. And when you don’t understand something, you fear it and try to destroy it. That is what was happening here as they conspired to have Jesus killed. They’re own sinful lives created a mistrust in Jesus’ honestly. They truly believed that he was there to destroy and undermine them. They had convinced themselves that only they could keep Israel to gather; only they could keep Judaism from falling. Their evil thoughts were covered in a false religious piety.
Could we fall into the same trap? Could we also believe that God needs our help in keeping the church from falling apart? In my years in the church, I’ve also seen scheming, politics, backstabbing and the desire to increase within the church at many levels. I’ve seen in in church elections and in board meetings. I’ve seen it in district, conference and union dealings. In almost every case, it was done with an idea that they were doing what was best for others and the church. The problem of course is that God doesn’t work within those means. That is the domain and work of the devil.
3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
Matthew 27:3-4
Judas was one that fell into that hole of self-deception. Only after seeing Christ taken away and realizing that he wouldn’t fight back but allow himself to die, did Judas understand his sin. In trying to help Jesus by forcing him to take the crown, he condemned him to death. He tried to fix his mistake but he went to the wrong people. Instead of going to God, he went to those he conspired with. They of course didn’t care about his guilt or anything about him. He was just a tool for them. In misery he left without his sins forgiven.
Many times when we make a mistake, we fail a second time in trying to fix it. How many times do people try and fix a lie with another lie? It’s not good enough to want to fix a mistake but you must know how to do it. God is the only one who can truly take away our sins and he is also the only one who knows the right plan to correct a misstep. Always go to Christ first.
God bless,
Pr. Steven Couto