Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 18:33 “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’"
Pilate talked with the Jewish leaders and mob outside the Praetorium because the Jews would be defiled if they went inside. But Jesus was inside the Praetorium before the judgment seat of Pilate. While outside talking with the Jews we learn from Luke 23:2 what the council had agreed would compel Pilate to crucify Jesus. “And they began to accuse Him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.’" Do you see how Satan led them to twist the words of Jesus and falsely accuse Him? They found Pilate’s weak spot (self-ambition and self-preservation) and played him. They knew this information would lead to Jesus’ execution.
So upon hearing this false accusation, Pilate returns to investigate along this line. “Are you the king of the Jews?”
As we live with Jesus, we should expect Satan, who hates Jesus in us, to attack Him in the same way. He will twist our confidence in Christ and lead those who are threatened by it to think it is pride (calls Himself a king—thinks He is an authority).
We will take careful notice the next few days at how Jesus loved in the face of such demonic opposition. Today, let’s not let those who misjudge us throw us off our purpose to love with Jesus.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

1 John 1:5-7 

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Truth has been the focus of my blogs this year. I have been so encouraged this year as I meditate on truth, and I hope you’ve been blessed by walking with me on the journey of practicing the truth by walking in love with Jesus. This month, let’s draw insight from the passage above in 1 John 1:5-7.

God is Light

1 John 1:5-7 highlight the relationship between truth and love. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Amazing! The life of God dwells in all of those born of God—the life of light. John wrote in his gospel, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:4).

God is Love

God also is love. 1 John 4:7-8. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” When God is present, a light shines in the hearts of those who are His. They have hearts to express the indwelling life of Christ through love. Therefore, He is their light, and His light is the light of the world. When His light shines in and through them, they live to love with Jesus, and practice the truth. 

Read more at livetolovewithjesus.com/blog

John 18:32 “To fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.”
Matthew recorded Jesus’ prophecy regarding His death. Matthew 20:18-19. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up."
Jesus also prophesied our death. Matthew 16:24-25. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’”
Have you not heard? We were born again to die just like Jesus was born to die? We know the kind of death we are going to die—death to our own individualism, death to self—so that the life and love of Jesus may be resurrected in us. If we think we can live today to express our true authentic selves, we are deluded and deceived. There was no way out for Jesus that morning. His death had been prophesied by God and this had to be fulfilled. So it is with us. As we live to love with Jesus, we may expect to die daily so Jesus’ love may be revealed. We can testify with the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:31 “I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” In Jesus’ death, we die. In His life, we live—to love with Him.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 18:31 So Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law." The Jews said to him, "We are not permitted to put anyone to death,"
Pilate’s statement here represents a change in what was arranged the night before between Caiaphas and Pilate. On Thursday night Pilate was all in with the plan to execute Jesus under Roman law. Then he got his wife’s, Claudia’s, message about her dream, warning him to have nothing to do with this righteous man. You can see that’s exactly what Pilate was trying to do. He was trying to put it back on them. "Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law."
They probably had the same conversation the night before. The Romans were needed in order to get rid of Jesus once and for all. Jewish law did not permit them to execute Jesus for anything He had done.
Sometimes we know something doesn’t feel right. There’s a nagging pang deep within telling us, “Don’t do it.” “Don’t say it.” Deep down we know we should put on the brakes and turn around. Go another way. But we don’t. That’s where Pilate was that Good Friday morning.
I hope we can pause today and remind ourselves to seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for times we ignored His gracious warnings and purpose going forward that we will stop and turn away from temptation. It’s loving Jesus with our whole hearts.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 18:30 “They answered and said to him, "If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you."
If you remember, as Pilate began his investigation into Jesus’ case, he asked, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" This question was not unexpected by Caiaphas and crowd. An agreement had already been arranged between Pilate and Caiaphas to execute Jesus as quickly as possible. So someone gave what they thought would be a sufficient, bottom-line answer. In short, “This man deserves to die or we wouldn’t be here.”
Before we pass judgement on these guys, it might be helpful and wise for us to ask ourselves. “Have we ever judged someone without hearing the evidence or hearing their view of things?” It’s impossible to love with Jesus when we are sitting in the judgment seat. These people falsely accused Jesus of being an evil-doer merely because He didn’t affirm them and tow the party line. Have we ever done that to someone? My live to love encouragement today is to repent of such pride and judgment and purpose not to condemn others, but instead love them.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com