Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tues.'s Devo - Who are you?

Read John 8:2-11
I have to go back to yesterdays scripture because I think there is so much to the story of the woman caught in adultery. The reading for that day in the temple was Jer. 17:13 which says," O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." I wonder if Jesus was writing their names in the dirt and the fact that Jesus had no way of knowing their name brought conviction and unarmed them. He must have started with the names of the oldest ones first.
In the OT if a woman was caught in adultery she would have to drink bitter water made of the dirt. If she was innocent nothing would happen, if she was guilty her abdomen would swell and her thigh would rot.
In the NT story the very dirt that would have condemned her, set her free.
How does that relate to our lives? If we are the Pharisee wanting justice to be served then Jesus writes our name on that sin and convicts us of the very thing we are judging. If we are the one being judged for our sin, Jesus delivers us from the condemning voices in our head and tells us to go and sin no more. Maybe we can be Jesus in the story and silence the accusers and say to the one who is in sin, "your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more."
Lord, I find myself in the place of the Pharisees most of the time and I'm pretty sure that is the worse place to be. Humble my heart to see my sin and repent. Help me to go and sin no more.

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