Do you go along with the crowd? Or, do you take your time, think about and maybe research something before you come to your conclusion?
And when you have a conviction, do you stick to it?
Reading Mark today, I could not get over how fickle the people are. Look at these two verses.
Mark 14:1-2 (NLT) "Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. "But not during the festival," they said, "or the people may riot."
and then, not very long after, when Jesus was before Pilate,
Mark 15:9-14 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
"Crucify him!" they shouted.
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
The same people the chief priest were afraid would mob them to protect Jesus when he was teaching, turned on him after what seems like a little stirring up from them. I guess it was no longer fashionable to support Jesus after his arrest? I'm not sure, frankly I read this and I'm baffled by it.
But it does show that shallow convictions are not convictions at all.
I see this all the time. I see people doing this still today.
Do you follow the crowd? Do you go with what is popular?
Or do your convictions run deep?
