Thursday the 18th

John 7: 10-11

 

⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  ⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"  ¹¹"No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

 

How quick we are to point out others faults. It is easy to look at another persons life and see where all of the wrong turns were made, all of the transgressions are clearly seen. Yet it is not as clear when we look at ourselves is it? How many of us have been part of a group just like the one in the scripture? How quick have we been to condemn a fellow brother or sister, all the while knowing that we too are guilty of transgressions? When we look to ourselves, I mean deep into ourselves, into those dark places that we don’t like to look at, the places that we don’t show the world, we find that while the sin might not be the same, we are no better than those that we would condemn. When we look and see how hard it has been to make changes in our own life, and honestly none of us are done with that, then we can look at others, not with eyes of condemnation, but with eyes of compassion. We all struggle with daily life, we all have demons that torment us, we all have a past, and we all have made mistakes. Let us make the commitment to break away form the mob that would condemn. Let us be the one to go against the flow, like Christ, and recognize that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. As we draw closer to the remembrance of the ultimate gift of love, allow yourself to do the unthinkable….love the unloved, forgive the un-forgiven, and pray for those that will not pray for themselves. Remember your past, and look towards your future, you will see that there are no stones to throw, only love to give.

 

Peace,

Brian