Day 18 of 21 Day Challenge

John 18 tells about Jesus' arrest. Jesus had to endure not only Judas' betrayal, but also Peter's denial that he knew Jesus. The other disciples abandoned Jesus. They are nowhere around in Jesus' hour of need. When we are faced with taking a stand on what is right or wrong, do we abandon Jesus and refuse to do what is right? Lord, help me to never abandon you! Help me to always choose to do what is right! You DIED for me. The least I can do is LIVE for you each and every day of my life.

The other thing that really stood out to me as I read this chapter was verse 28 which says, "Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover." These men who were filled with hatred toward Jesus, who were involved in treachery and lies, and were willing to do anything to have Him murdered, were concerned with making sure they were ceremonially clean so they could partake of Passover?! This just seemed so unbelievable to me. These Jews were more concerned with the outward appearance. What would people think of them if they couldn't eat the Passover? They certainly wouldn't appear to be righteous. The problem with their thinking is easy to see. It doesn't matter what people see on the outside, because God looks on a person's heart. We can say and do the right things so that people THINK we are good Christians, but God knows the truth. He knows our motives, as well as our thoughts and attitudes. We can't fool God! We need to make sure that our motives, thoughts, and attitudes are always pure and clean. Then we can be assured that we are totally clean: inside and out.

I found a verse in Proverbs 27 that also went along very nicely with what I had learned in John. Proverbs 27:19 says "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." When you look at someone's heart, you truly see who that person is. The chief priests and Pharisees knew all about the laws and how to follow them perfectly, but their hearts revealed that they were unclean because they were more concerned with outward appearances and not on doing what was right. Lord, create in me a clean heart! I want everything I do to be pleasing to you, Lord!