Today’s devotional comes from Jason:
I was lost when you found me here
I was broken beyond repair.
Then you came along
And you sang your song over me
(Second verse of "Born Again)
There she was, thinking that everything was going to be okay. She had done this countless times before. This wasn't the kind of life she had always wanted, or the kind of life that she wanted to have ten years from now. Every day she had said, "I'll stop tomorrow. Just this once more." All of the men had promised her the same thing. They had all said she was so beautiful, that they loved her, that she was important to them. Just then, the door flew open, and there were so many people. She thought she recognized some of the men from past encounters, but couldn't be sure. It was so loud, so scary. They just kept shouting at her, cursing her, and condemning her. Where was the man? Why were they just focusing on her sin? This was a question she couldn't answer, accept to say, she wasn't as important as he was. They placed her there practically naked in the middle of the temple courts, and the shouting just got louder and louder. Everyone was yelling at her, accept him.
"Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
What would he say? Surely he would just yell and curse her like the others.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When 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."
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
The woman stood there covering as much of herself as she possibly could, because surely the first stone would come at any time now, but instead she just heard silence and the sound of feet walking away. As she looked up she noticed the older men walking away. Then she saw the younger ones following. All she could think of was the fact that she was not alone. She realized they all were in the same shape she was in. They had sin and deserved the same punishment that she did. She stood there in the silence just looking at the feet of the man who had just saved her life.
"Woman where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
No one sir, was all she could get out. She was free from their taunts. She was free to start over.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus said. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
Is it really that simple? She feels so much love coming from this man. She feels so much friendship, so much forgiveness. She knew this was all happening and she wanted that fresh start.
This was the story from John 8. Some of the thoughts were just an idea of what might have happened. This woman was lost and broken beyond repair. She finally found what she was looking for. She found a man who took her as she was and didn't want to leave her that way. He wanted to show her what true love and fellowship was. She learned it that day.
Can you imagine standing there in the presence of Jesus feeling that love, looking at those eyes of forgiveness? I am sure that she felt like standing at the feet of Jesus from that point on. Some of us can feel how she was feeling. We feel like we have fallen and broken. We feel like we have nowhere to turn. We feel like no one truly understands us. The pain from our sinful way of life is almost too heavy a burden to bear. Jesus stands there looking at us in our sin and wants to sing that forgiveness song over us as well.
Are you ready to experience what the woman did? Are you ready to make the life change? He challenges us to go and leave our life of sin. The woman walked away clean, loved, forgiven, and born again. Do you truly want all of that as well? Are you prepared to start over and leave what you "used to do" in the past, and just follow your Savior? Just like the woman, the choice is ours from that point.
I am glad that God still wants to work in my life and fix what I break.
God's blessings on all us broken and lost.
Jason
