“Go Now And Leave Your Life Of Sin”

Then they all went home,

John 7:53

…but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

John 8:1-11

The group of religious leaders herded an adulterous woman toward Jesus, but they couldn’t know they were carrying her within a stone’s throw of grace.

Jesus turned the tables on the accusers. Rather than answering them directly, He started writing in the ground. When the leaders continued to question Him, He suggested that if they had not sinned, they could throw the first stone. They left.

Whether today finds you needing forgiveness for judging others or desiring assurance that no sin is beyond His grace, be encouraged by this: No one is throwing stones today; go and be changed by God’s mercy.

We serve a Savior who is eager to forgive.

Our Daily Bread – September 29, 2016