“So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
John 8: 7 - 11
King James Version
It is not easy for us to admit that we are wrong about something or that we have sinned. It’s certainly not easy for us to admit that we are addicted to drugs, television, sports, alcohol, pornography or anything else that hurts Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with playing sports or watching television, provided that the programs we watch are programs that we would watch if Jesus were sitting beside us, unless we put these things first in our lives. Anything that comes before Jesus or interferes with our fellowship with Him is sin.
I was in a church service many years ago when the pastor stopped preaching in the middle of a sentence and said “The football game will be on soon so I am ending my sermon early so that we can get home to watch the football game.” How that must have broken the heart of our precious Saviour. Jesus must come before everybody and everything. He paid a very expensive price to earn that right when He was crucified on the old rugged cross of horror and torture for our sins.
While these things hurt Jesus, there are other things that also hurt Him. It hurts Jesus when we abuse our spouses physically or verbally. When we criticize and ridicule our children and our parents and our siblings, it not only hurts our loved ones, it also breaks the heart of our precious Saviour. If we are constantly hurting people on purpose because we are stronger than they are or to get even with them for something they did to us or if we are addicted to something, we need to understand that we must stop doing these things.
Also, we should never condemn someone for being addicted to something. Just as Jesus said to the woman “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” so He says that to us. None of us are perfect. All of us fail and hurt Jesus. The sweetest Christian we know is just a sinner saved by grace. How dare we criticize and condemn someone when Jesus doesn’t criticize and condemn the person. We are at times a very arrogant people. May God forgive us for our holier than thou attitudes.
Our precious and loving Saviour is waiting for us to come to Him with humble and broken hearts for sinning and hurting Him. We need to ask Him to forgive us and help us get through these difficult times. Our precious Saviour is a loving, understanding and compassionate Saviour. Reach out and take the hand of our Saviour. He will take your hand and walk beside you as you are going through these dark valleys. He will never leave you, not even for one minute and He will set you on the mountain tops of joy, peace and happiness. Thank God for our risen Saviour!
Joanne Lowe
October 25, 2008
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