Go, And Sin No More

I think most of us are familiar with the story of the adulterous woman brought before Jesus for judgment. If nothing else, we all know better than to cast the first stone, based on what Jesus said (some of us end up throwing a lot of stones anyway, but that’s beside the point). One thing that I think some people miss, though, Jesus told her that He didn’t condemn her, but He didn’t say that what she had done was okay.
She was fortunate enough to have been caught in the middle between Jesus and the Pharisees. She probably didn’t feel fortunate at the time; under Roman law, adultery did not carry a death sentence, but under the Law of Moses, it did. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to either affirm the Law of Moses, which would lead to a charge of insurrection against the Roman government, or not, which they could then use to accuse Him of heresy. So this woman, who ordinarily would have been left alone, is arrested, and taken to Jesus, presumably on her way to be stoned. That must have been a frightening experience. In any case, Jesus sidestepped the question entirely, and did not address her guilt or punishment, and instead addressed the guilt of her accusers. Once the men who were prepared to stone her walked away, then Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” She, fortunately, had the wisdom to say, “No man, Lord.” He responded, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
I think some people get the idea that Jesus didn’t condemn her because she had done nothing wrong. I don’t think that the Scripture suggests that. He didn’t say that she hadn’t sinned, rather, He told her not to sin any more, which, in fact, suggests that she had sinned. I think that it is safe to say that the entire episode had nothing to do with her guilt or innocence, but on the willingness of sinful men to accuse other people. Are any of us truly guilt-free? Yet, we have this ideological flaw that, if we look at our sin, and we look at someone else’s sin, well, at least my sin isn’t as bad as his sin… But, in God’s eyes, sin is sin. At judgment day, you can’t tell God, well, at least I never killed anybody, He will just remind you of the people that you have hated for no real reason badly enough that you would have been glad if they had died.
I don’t imagine that it was easy for the adulterous woman to walk away from the lifestyle that she was accustomed to. Of course, having come that close to death because of the way she lived was probably enough incentive to keep her on the straight and narrow. Some people don’t turn to Christ until they have had a similar experience. The rest of us need to learn that kind of urgency. Either way, none of us can keep from sinning for any length of time, it is only the grace of God that sustains us. We need to give God our best, and pray that our efforts will be blessed.

Living Beneath Our Privilege

Yesterday I posted about seeking first the Kingdom of God, and about how often God tries to do for us, and we just get in the way. It occurs to me that we live so far beneath or privilege. God wants us to have so much more than what we end up with. The Bible says that we have not because we ask not, and when we do ask, we ask amiss (James 4:3). Sometimes that’s as simple as not going to God in faith believing that He will give us the desires of our hearts. Sometimes he gave us those desires, to start with. How’s that for a conundrum: God lays something on my heart, but I don’t believe that it’s of God, so, even though it something I want to do, I don’t think it’s something that God wants me to do, so I try to push that out of my mind, and do what God wants me to do, only I’m really avoiding what God wants me to do. Wow. That even sounds confusing to me.
The point is, sometimes we don’t ask God, because we’re sure He’ll say no, before we even ask. Sometimes when we do ask, we feel so guilty, because we know what we’ve done, and we feel that we don’t deserve what we are asking for, even though we know that God has forgiven us, we don’t feel forgiven. Because we don’t feel forgiven, we go to God as if He hadn’t forgiven us. It’s kind of like asking dad for the car keys, when just this afternoon we got into trouble. Even if dad has forgiven us, we still kind of feel bad about asking. If we don’t ask, though, we can’t receive (of course, we may ask, and still not receive, but if we don’t ask, we definitely won’t receive), and if we ask, not expecting to receive, then we mess up our own chances.
One of the times that David got in trouble with God, God sent Nathan to remind David how much God had already given him, and then to say, “If that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.” That always struck me as some kind of awesome. That particular instance, it seemed to me that David was being just a little bit greedy (well, maybe a lot greedy), but you notice God didn’t get angry with David for wanting more, only for not asking God for more, and just going out and taking what he wanted.
In the parable of the prodigal son, the Father tells the other son that he could have had, if he had only asked, “All that I have is thine.” The other son is the one who has been faithful all this time, but then when his brother returns, he gets miffed, as though his Father treats his miscreant brother better. The Father has to remind him that, all along, he has gotten exactly what he has asked for; no more, and no less.
Keep in mind, also, though, that Jesus set the example for us in the garden, when he said, “…not my will, but thine, be done.” He knew what was going to happen, and He understood why. He prayed that prayer to set the example for us. Sometimes we will ask for things, and the answer is just, “no,” because what we are asking for is not God’s will. Remember that Paul prayed three times to have a thorn removed from his flesh, but God told him that Paul needed that thorn. Sometimes, though, the answer will be, “Yes, I’m so glad you asked! I’ve been waiting for you to ask that!”
So how do you pray, in faith believing, if you aren’t sure that what you want is what God wants for you? Start out by asking God to help you to understand His will for your life, and ask Him for direction, even in your prayer life. Then work your way from there, remembering that God wants the best for you, even if sometimes you don’t know what that is.