“And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.” – Matthew 27:30
Who would do this?!? Who would spit on Jesus? Who would mock Him, humiliate Him, and hit Him on the head? Surely it was a group of pagan Roman soldiers. Casual dealers in pain and death. Excited for the opportunity to practice cruelty without restraint. Ugly men earning God’s eternal wrath.
Who else would do this?!? Every Christian… every time we deliberately sin. When we, who’ve been raised to new spiritual life, jump back into the cesspool of sin and death from which we were saved, by practicing one of our favorite sins, we’re spitting on Christ. We’re telling Jesus that we don’t take His sacrifice seriously. We say thanks for the cleansing blood, please keep it coming…
Don’t spit on Jesus! Whatever tempts you to sin, fight it! Whether it’s the sort of sin that makes headlines or the kind where you claim, “it doesn’t hurt anyone”, it’s spitting on Jesus. Uncontrolled anger… greed… sexual sin of any sort… gossip… dividing believers… dallying with dark spiritual things… cruelty or criminality toward others… Whatever it is, fight it.
Every Christian will fall into sin from time to time. When you do, there is always grace to cover that – repent and be forgiven. But when we jump into sin without the slightest bit of concern or resistance, full of ourselves and confident that we’re right and God needs to leave us alone – that’s when we spit on Jesus once more. In fact, Hebrews 6:6 says that we crucify Him once again, warning us of the terrible spiritual consequences of doing that. So, whatever tempts you to sin, don’t excuse it. Don’t explain why it isn’t a big deal. Don’t embrace it. Don’t celebrate it. Fight it. Get help fighting it. Crucify it. #FollowJesus