Upper Loft Meditation – Matthew 27

Matthew 27:22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.

John Stott is retiring this week. It is amazing to look back on his life and marvel at the way God worked so faithfully through him. During the time he was in school, Stott talks about a preacher named “Bash” who came and challenged the students with a quote from Pilate: “What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?”

Stott recalls: “That I needed to do anything with Jesus was an entirely novel idea to me, for I had imagined that somehow he had done whatever needed to be done, and that my part was only to acquiesce. However, this preacher was quietly but powerfully insisting that everybody had to do something about Jesus, and that nobody could remain neutral. Either we copy Pilate and weakly reject him, or we accept him personally and follow him.”

There were times in John Stott’s life when he would actively “do things” for Christ and not just be neutral in his relationship. I think of the stories of disguising himself as homeless and sleeping on the streets in order to find out what it was like and how his congregation would react. He worked hard at remembering names and faces while continuously praying for those people he met. I remember reading that whenever John Stott was thinking about the work of the church he had two key words in his vocabulary: integration & penetration. These two words have lots of action in them. Continue Reading Devotional

As John Stott retires, I find myself thinking… “What am I doing with Christ? What action am I taking? Or am I just sitting back with a neutral attitude like Pilate?”

What are you DOING for Jesus today?

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