Devotion for Thursday, July 23, 2026

“But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.  Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”  They shouted back, “Crucify Him!” (Mark 15:11-13)

Politicians love to stir up a crowd.  In the throng, someone will say, “People are saying.”  Who are these so-called ‘people’?  They are manipulated with the appearance of legitimacy through the mob.  But the Lord deals with each one of us personally.  One with the Lord is an overwhelming majority.  Do not seek to please (or use) the crowd; but seek to humbly walk with Your Creator.

Lord God, You who made all things have witnessed generation after generation sinning with impunity.  Crowds are stirred and used in the name of justice, and have wreaked havoc upon humanity.  Help me to neither be one to stir the crowd, nor one with the crowd, but look to You alone as the source of all goodness.  Strip me of sin and fill me with Your Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, the world wants to be done with You.  They want You, through whom they and all things exist, to just go away.  But You came to give me a new life through grace.  Guide me to live this new life knowing that in You alone is there hope and a future.  Teach me all that I need so that I live into the life You are giving me.  Lead me in Your righteousness to always be in Your presence.  Amen.