Friday, September 20: “At What Price Approval?”

John 12: 42, 43: “Nevertheless, even many of the rulers believed in [Jesus], but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

To be put out of the synagogue meant more than missing church; it meant being excluded from Jewish society. And since these rulers enjoyed their role of lording it over people, they chose that over the approval of the Lord Himself. Bad focus, wrong choice!