"Heart Hangers" cont'd...

I hope some of the rest of you enjoyed the “Heart Hanger” from last week as much as some of the rest of us did. Just remember “Heart Hangers” come at different times for all of us. A “Heart Hanger” for me today may have been one of yours 5 years ago. His timing is always perfect for what we need.

All that said, let me introduce you to the other “Heart Hanger” I had that Sunday. It came from a young man in my home group study group that happened to be preaching our Sunday Evening service. Justin was preaching from John 8:24. The story of the women caught in adultery. He shared 8 points from that text that stood out to him concerning the forgiveness of Christ. I am allowing several of the others to marinate. But this one gave me room for pause…as the verse tells us the woman was caught in the actual act of adultery. Justin’s first point was: “Jesus’ forgiveness was not based on her innocence.” Wow! Do you see this? We don’t mind forgiving people when we believe they are innocent, or we think they didn’t really mean to, or they were a victim of circumstances. But this lady was committing adultery and she knew exactly what she was doing was wrong. Just like you and I have done some things in our lives along the way that we knew were wrong but did them anyway. Just pause a moment and think where you would be if mercy and grace in the form of forgiveness had not been extended to you.

So many times during the week in the counseling process I hear these words, “but I don’t deserve forgiveness for that.” It gives me great joy to say to them, “you’re right you don’t, none of us deserves forgiveness”. You see we live in a world where we watch too many episodes of Law and Order, or Perry Mason reruns, or L.A. Lawyers, or Forensic Files etc., etc., etc. My point is we like to base our forgiveness on the facts presented before us and we determine forgiveness based on innocence. If you are not innocent then you deserve what you get.

Jesus knew the truth about the woman. He knew before they ever told Him why the woman was standing before them. I love how He elicited mercy out of these guys with the following verse: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Hmmmmm, didn’t that just drain the milk out of their bowl of cheerios! Aren’t we quick to want to condemn and slow to forgive others and ourselves. The next time you want to condemn someone ask yourself, “could you throw the first stone?”

All this to say, Jesus’ forgiveness toward you and me isn’t based on our innocence. It is based on His mercy and grace, His shed blood on the cross. Who are we to not humble ourselves and extend it to others and ourselves? He did. Are we greater than God?

His,
vickie