John 8:9 says, "But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing beside Him."
Well just in case this is not familiar to you, let me recap it:
The Pharisees (who were caught up in religious law and teaching) have found an adulteress woman, perhaps caught in the very act. I picture them grabbing her from both arms and hurling profanity and insults at her as they preach to her about her sins. They bring her to Jesus and thrust her at His feet. The Pharisees were not fair - you see. They always had a motive. Often the motive was to somehow make Jesus look less like Jesus and thereby make themselves look better (have you ever heard of such?)
Jesus pretends not to notice when they enter the room, he actually looks down and writes in the sand. Then He stands up and says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Guess what happening next? They begin to exit one by one, first the older ones exited, then the younger (possibly the older ones had sinned more because they had more years in which to do so).
Well, the end of the story...Jesus looks at the woman and tells her "Go and sin no more". He didn't minimize or disregard her sin and he didn't enable her because of her sin. He spoke truth in love to her and made her accountable by acknowledging her sin.
We can be so like the Pharisees, caught up in rules and religious teachings, keeping tabs on who has wronged us (thereby keeping ourselves enslaved). I remember reading a book by Stormie O'Martian titled, "The Power of the Praying Wife". I picked up the book and thought, "I am going to pray my man into helping in the house and being romantic". HA! The joke was on me! In the intro of the book, the author said that instead of seeking to change your husband, you must first ask God to change you.
I will go ahead and warn you, asking and letting God search your heart are two different things. It is very easy to ask God to search your heart, but it can sometimes be painful to let Him do so.
In case I lost you in the babble, the "Put off" for today is "judging", the "Put on" is "Let God search your heart". The scripture readings are: Matt 7:1-2 , John 8:9....
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Hope you have a beautiful day....now go forth and "flesh this out"....
3 comments:
Sista Sue
You are an excellent teacher :)
I love to read your writings because they are the TRUTH and they are Powerful..It really makes me think
about myself and my life.You put alot of your life lessons in these teachings too and I am sure that is not always easy for you. Just wanted to say thanks and I love ya.
I can remember in my younger days when I could hold a grudge and hate as good as any sinner, LoL, but when you get Jesus in your heart theres no room or time for that foolishness :)Right?
and I once had some folks in my life that I could still be bent out of shape about but what good would come of that...It would only ruin my witness. Certainly not worth it!
It's so much better to let go and let GOD!! :)
Me too Sista! I could hold a grudge with the best of them and still fight it in my flesh on a daily basis. I will never forget a lesson that Tonda taught....she stated that when we hold a grudge, we are placed behind bars....WOW! Strong stuff. Thank you for your encouragement and I love you much!
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