This chapter begins and ends with a group of people who wanted to stone someone. In the beginning it was a woman caught in adultery. In the end, it was Jesus Himself. In both cases it was self righteous religious leaders who thought their "stoning" was completely justified.
Is there a pattern here? Does our condemnation of others ultimately lead us to reject God Himself? I believe that often this is the case. Satan's goal is to destroy everyone! He does not play favorites. He will use any and every opportunity to take us away from Jesus. He will often use our sense of "justice and fairness" to actually destroy our hearts for others.
Jesus was clearly who He claimed to be…God! He said, "If you continue in My word, you are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Free from sin. Free from Satan. AND free from the need to execute justice for others. Our goal should be to follow hard after Jesus.
that is a tremendously helpful and devastating insight.
ReplyDeletei will store that nugget for future use for sure!