A very productive day, Father, thank You for the strength and tenacity to see things through. I have spoken with You throughout the day as well and am so blessed by Your presence!
John 8:1-11 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the most amazing things about our relationship with Jesus is His forgiveness. At some point in the unknown future, sin, and its influence upon us, will be no more! (What a day that will be!) But until then we sludge through the sin and its consequences that engulfs our world – and sin’s presence here is by our invitation, mind you.
How many of us struggle day in and day out? Many can’t forgive themselves for the sins they’ve committed. Far too often, we have sin in our lives that, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to stand up against! Things that plagued us in our youth still haunt us in our adulthood.
Sin can be overwhelming but – and this is huge! – we can live a life where sin does not dominate us! When we yield control of our lives over to Jesus, and diligently maintain that intimate relationship in His strength and power, we can be victorious!
First of all, we can’t fool ourselves. The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 7:20 reads, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who always does good and who never sins.” AMP
The Apostle Paul states in Romans 3:23, “…all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God…” AMP
We are sinners from ages past to the indeterminant future. Our only hope lies, not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ alone. The Apostle John in his first epistle encourages us with these words,
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9 NLT
My perception of God’s holiness versus sin for a long time consisted of the idea that sin could not exist in His presence. I realize that that is true but not in the way I thought it did. My mind went more in the direction of God standing with a lightning bolt in His hand and if I hadn’t confessed my sins to Jesus and attempted to come before Him, that lightning bolt would fly, and I would be nothing more than a pile of ash!
I came across another blog recently that shifted my perspective. (I can share it with you if you care to reach out to me.) In it, the author writes,
“…sin cannot be in the presence of God because whenever God draws near to sin, the raging inferno of His love and holiness washes all sin away. Sin crushes, enslaves, and destroys humanity, but it vanishes away into nothingness at the smallest touch of God’s blazing holiness.”
So, in truth, forgiveness – the touchpoint of God’s grace, mercy, and love – eradicates the sin that separates us from our Creator – our Redeemer!
In today’s verses from John 8, Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
She replied, “No, Lord,”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” vs10-11 NLT
Was she guilty? Yes. Was it too much for Jesus to handle? Absolutely not!
Jesus didn’t run from the filthiness of her sin; he ran to it! He didn’t condone her actions – her grievous sin – but He loved her enough to forgive her – eradicating her sin – and sending her on her way with the admonition to “Go and sin no more.”
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV
June 22nd, 2021, Tues, 8:34 pm
