TODAY IS…

a great day to avoid getting caught up in the excitement.

“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Crucify Him!’”  Matthew 27:22 NASB

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of things sometimes.

The holiday season is infectious, and birthdays, festivals, family reunions, and so-on all tend to grab us, sweeping us along in the rising tide of emotions.

In many cases, and in many instances, that is most certainly not a bad thing, but we must always be careful that we don’t get so carried away that we fail to exercise caution and common sense.

We also need to always be sure and not get caught up in the excitement of something that is wrong or could prove to have negative consequences or a negative effect on the health, welfare, and well-being of ourselves or someone else. The same goes for those we love as well. We want to make sure that they exercise caution and judgment also.

Regret sometimes follows actions taken in the heat of the moment. If we are not careful, sometimes getting caught up in the excitement can have irreversible negative consequences.

In the most powerful and emotional display of people getting caught up in the excitement of the moment followed by the profound feeling of certainty that something terrible had just occurred due to the uncontrolled excitement of that crowd, Jesus of Nazareth was savagely beaten and then crucified.

Pilate tried to dissuade them. “And he said, ‘why, what evil has He done?’ But they kept shouting all the more, saying, ‘Crucify Him!’” (Matthew 27:23 NASB).

“Kill Him! Kill Him!” they screamed in their frenzy. Untold numbers of everyday people caught up in the moment and on the verge of murdering the Son of God.

Jesus was nailed to the cross. The sky went dark in the middle of the day for three hours. Jesus cried out and He was given some wine soaked in a sponge.

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” (Matthew 27:50-52 NIV).

It was then that the realization began to set in.

“The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, ‘This man truly was the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:54 NLT).

Try to imagine their horror and shame as the full weight of what had been done bore down on them.

There is little likelihood that anything remotely like being part of the crucifixion of Christ will ever occur in your life, but events in our everyday lives can create emotions and excitement that, left unchecked, can have life-altering consequences. Avoid getting caught up in the excitement and take a moment to think about what you are about to do so you do not need to spend the rest of your life trying to forget what it was you did.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson