Good day dear friends. I trust we're all seeking to live as if we had a God-heart; guided by the Lord to be His servants.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Please find John 8:3-11. Here is the story of a woman caught in a dreadful act. We don’t know more about this woman only that something led her to a life that was not her potential. She was not living to God’s standards and Jesus’ compassion touched her and blessed her. Be blessed by this story!
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."]
Jesus could see through the woman and knew her history. We do not. There could have been countless things happen in this woman's life as child, as a teenager, as a young adult that led to her making some unwise decisions for herself and her life. It may have been her seeking the approval of a man that led her to be "caught in adultery." And it was a very big, very serious offense and matter. The ones who brought her out said, "this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery." We don't know who caught them (for there was a man involved and we don't know where he is or what happened to him), but they were ready to deal with this woman and to offer her life in exchange for her sin. The penalty was death through stoning. They wanted to trap Jesus by quoting the Mosaic law. Jesus replies by writing on the ground. We don't know what He wrote, but they kept questioning Him and he calmly says, "Let anyone among you who is without sin to cast the first stone." (my version). He then wrote on the ground again. Some have said Jesus was writing the sins of each person there on the ground. I think that would have tired out his finger. The question about being sinless is what left them speechless and made them walk off one by one. Jesus spared the woman's life and set her free from all she had ever done. "Go and do not sin again."
It is a sin to live outside God's potential for your life. It is a sin to allow past mistakes or sins done against you to keep you from living life in the full abundance offered by the Lord to us. This woman was now free to go and live a life that did not require her to seek approval or affection or love through men in this way.
What's holding you back from living with a God-heart?
PRAYER: Erase, O Lord, the sins of my heart and the pain of the memories of things done and said against me. Let me rise above the mess of the past, to the promise of the potential that is mine in Christ Jesus. I pray in His name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
