Our friend Jesus, who always loves us no matter what, and who will never leave us nor forsake us, is also a just friend. We still need to be accountable to Him for our sins. He is a forgiving friend when we have repentance. It is 'complete forgiveness'. Then we can have a fresh start, by His mercy and grace.
Think of the woman who was caught in adultery. She was brought to Jesus by self-righteous accusers. (One wonders where the man was. He was equally quilty.)
Jesus told those accusers to cast a stone if they themselves were without sin. No one threw a stone at the woman. Instead, they went shamefully away.
Imagine how that woman must have felt then. There was one man left. Jesus was actually the only one to have been able to throw a stone. But He didn't. He didn't condemn her but exhorted,
"Go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11 NIV).
This friend Jesus gave her a new way to live. As Katara Patton put it in Our Daily Bread 2023,
"Christ gave her the solution to forgive her sin and [live] a new way [over] her past ..."
I believe our friend Jesus offers the same to us, His children, today. If Jesus does this for us and we are to be 'like Jesus', we need to learn to treat others who've sinned, with similar grace and mercy, offering them a "fresh start".
Easier said than done, but by His grace, we can. Let's keep this story in mind as we go and sin no more.
~ERC February 2025 ~
Based on John 8:1-11 and Our Daily Bread 2023 - Sept/Oct/Nov - 31 Sept by Katara Patton.
Sing, I See Grace, along with Devoted Gospel, New Creation Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment