Fearing People

​Pilate sentenced Jesus to be crucified but what was the main motive for his decision?  In John 19 the Bible says that “Pilate made efforts to release Jesus, but the Jews cried out, if you release Him you are no friend of Caesar.”  Matthew 27 tells us that he made the decision because he saw that a riot was about to start. Mark 15 clearly gives his motive when it says that he was wishing to satisfy the crowd. Why did Pilate make his decision? Because he was more concerned about the reaction of the people than he was doing what was right. 
 
How many times in our life do we know what God wants us to do but we choose not to do it because we're more concerned about the reaction of other people around us than we are doing what's right? For example, we know that people need to hear the story of Jesus and that God has commanded each of us to be His witnesses.  But statistics continue to reveal that 90% of Christians will never share their faith once even though they know it's right. The number one reason is because they're more concerned about what people will think.  They're more concerned about being rejected.  They're more concerned about being ridiculed.  They're more concerned about losing a friend.