I was reading chapter 18 in the book of John this morning and will comment on what I internalized about it later in this post, however, the following verses never cease to give me a chuckle.

John 18:29-30 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

³⁰ They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

Of course he is guilty, we wouldn’t have arrested him if he wasn’t – thinks just about every Law Enforcement Officer in the country.

And MOST of the time it is true.  We have a system here in America that can be confusing to even our citizens.

We believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

For a defendant to be convicted of a crime the judge and /or jury must be convinced by ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’

That is a different level of judgment than a Police Officer has to make.  The police officer, if he reasonably suspects a person is guilty of a crime, can make an arrest on that basis.  He then continues his investigation to gather more evidence.

While it is best to have all the evidence before hand, sometimes it isn’t possible – this usually occurs in violent crimes where the safety of others needs to be protected.

While there are times that the evidence supports the innocence of the suspect, most of the time it validates the officer’s judgment.

The officer, while working a case, cannot work on the assumption the person is innocent until proven guilty or no one would be arrested.  However once he gathers the evidence, arrests the person he lets the court decide the fate of the suspect.

Then there is civil courts.  Far too many people believe that civil trials have the same burden of proof that criminal trials have.  They do not.

Civil trials determine who has the preponderance of evidence (50% plus a point over) to support their side of the argument.  They also may determine that one side is 60% responsible and the other is 40% - or some other figure.

I never arrested or cited a person I felt was not guilty.  Sometimes we were unable to prove our case, but that was a rare occurrence.  After all:  If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

John 18:19-20 The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.

²⁰ Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.

We are so used to people saying one thing, but doing another, that we often accept it as the norm.  Politicians know what voters want to hear – and in some parts of the nation it is different from other parts.

While not quite as prevalent today with so many ways a politician is followed, it used to be they would say one thing to one group and just the opposite to another one down the street.

Then in the privacy of their committee, say something else, plotting to get votes – and sometimes with a strategy of lying about an opponent or misrepresenting ideas.

They will skew facts to try and make them say things that, when looked at, bares no semblance to reality.

In trying to garner votes they will fabricate a persona of the candidate that bares no resemblance to the actual person.

No wonder politicians cannot be trusted.  Not only do they promise things they have no intention of doing, they often support the opposite and hide their purposes as they campaign.

But, if we are not careful we are no better.  We promise things that we do not fulfill.  We do and say things in private that we would never say in public.

But Christ was clear, what He said in Public, He also said in private.  While He gave more insights into His parables and sayings to His closest disciples, it wasn’t different than what He said in public, just clarified.

He didn’t hold back His criticism of the Leadership – and confronted them often in public.  He didn’t try and gain their respect by saying one thing to them and something else to others thinking it would be private.  He was honest in all His dealings with all people.

What we do in private does impact who we are and will eventually be exposed.  There is no ‘down time’ when it comes to seeking God to purify our hearts.

If we entertain sinful thoughts and commit sins we think are not going to be discovered, we err.  First God sees them, which automatically impacts our relationship with Him.

Second, no matter how we act in public, our sins impact our ability to be honest with others.  Often times, even though the sins are not exposed, people can tell we are not being honest and start to distrust us.

Then, of course, there is always the danger that our sins will be exposed and our credibility will be destroyed.

It is so difficult to strive for righteousness.  Satan is very sly and brings up things that he knows will impact us, he knows our weaknesses and is quick to exploit them.

If we let our guard down, even a little, we open ourselves up to attack from him.  We find ourselves doing battling to maintain our own righteousness and not battling for God’s.

We are not perfect, but we need to have God search our hearts and expose out weaknesses to us – allowing us to overcome them with the Holy Spirit’s assistance.

We cannot serve God effectively if we are always concerned that what we do in private is going to make our witness for God ineffective.

Christ made it clear that He did nothing in secret that He did in public, may we be able to say the same thing.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again