The Decision Everyone Must Make

Indecision is something we all experience. What should I wear? What should I do in this situation? Sometimes indecision has significant consequences, and sometimes it doesn’t.

When you’re indecisive, you try to live in two worlds. You try to appease everyone. That’s what Pontius Pilate tried to do. And in Matthew 27, we see how his indecision led to the most significant of consequences. He wanted other people to be pleased with his decision. He wanted everyone to get along. As a result, he was unwilling to decide what was really right.

Pilate didn’t realize what was actually happening. In reality, it was not Jesus standing before Pilate; it was Pilate standing before Jesus. Pilate was on trial, and he missed a golden opportunity to believe, a golden opportunity to trust in this One who had come to die for all humanity.

Pilate had to decide for himself and answer a question that everyone eventually must come to grips with: “What then shall I do with Jesus?”

He heard many voices that day. He heard the voice of the multitude saying, “Let Him be crucified!” He heard the voice of his wife saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man.” He surely must have heard the voice of his own conscience attesting to the innocence of Jesus. And he heard the voice of Jesus Himself. Sadly, Pilate listened to the wrong voice. It was a decision he no doubt regretted for the rest of his life.

Every one of us must come to grips with what we will do with Jesus. Yet, like Pilate, so many people let others do their thinking for them. They let others make their decision for them. And in the end, they pay with everything. I hope you won’t let that happen to you.