"Change of Heart"

 "But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" (John 18:39 KJV)

  ""The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But, I the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve."" (Jeremiah 17:9-10 NLT)

 Quick question: Can we really seriously change our heart for good? I absolutely know that we can change it to become hard and wicked; but is there anything we can do on our own that will cause our hearts to do good? Just something to think about, because the heart does what it does, as soon as it is tested. 

 We really don't need to study this verse very long, in order to see that Pilate had a change of heart towards the King of the Jews! Yes, he might have set out to have him released, telling the Jews, "I find in him no fault at all." But as soon as he says this, he thinks of a way to appease them, adding to that, by calling Jesus the King of the Jews. Not only did he give them an ultimatum, but he stuck a dagger in their hearts by the way he presented it, "will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews." 

 "Ultimatum," 'is a word that says, this is my final demand or statement of terms, the rejection of which will result in retaliation or a breakdown in relations.' In other words, this was their only choice, choose someone to be released, but if you want this man killed, you had better pick someone else! 

 I heard a message yesterday that reminded me of this, as I was thinking of the title for this verse, if, that is, I wasn't doing a second part to verse 38! If I would have, it would have been based upon the words that Pilate said, "I find in him no fault at all." But after hearing that message, I realized he did not care if he was killed anyway, as long as he didn't make the call. 

 This was from J. Vernon McGee, as he shared about a boy that was asked if he had found Jesus. The boy responded, "I didn't know that Jesus was lost; but He sure found me!" Then he was asked about the part that he played in his salvation. The boy responded, "My part was my sin!" Then he was asked to explain what he meant, so he said, "I was lost in my sin, running from God and walking in sin; and then He chased me down and changed my heart. He saved me, that was His part; my only part was my sin!" 

 When the Apostle Paul shows us that we are saved by grace, he does not say we are saved by mercy; God's mercy was Him giving His Son, because we were dead, Jesus gave us life! Mercy is something we experience after we are saved, continually begging that God will have mercy, when we still sin. But we could have care less about either, grace or mercy, prior to being saved; as a matter of fact, we only care about the life we lived in our sin! 

 Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve! We were retched and broken, lost in sin; the walking dead, waiting to somehow just charge our batteries again. He came to us, knocking us off our high-horse and he softened our heart, just long enough to make the right decision! So, what was our part in that? 

 "YES!" That was the only part we had, if you want to call that a part; because it was the reaction to the great need we felt for mercy! In that moment we remember how badly we treated Him, showing Him no respect; seeing what He did for us, and knowing how much He loved us, we became broken; not that we weren't already broken, but we saw just how broken we really where, and how much we needed to be saved! 

 J. Vernon added: "I sure am glad that God chose me before the world began, because if He was going to choose me after I was born, He might have changed His mind." Anywho! Keep on looking up, because the KING is coming soon! Keep telling yourself that, I you might actually be ready when He comes...

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boost about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)