Monday 22 Mar 2021

March 22: John 8:2-11
 
Key Verse: John 8:11
‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’
 
Devotion:
How quick are you to blame someone for doing something wrong? Do you talk about people and say how many bad things they have done? Do you use the law of the land or ‘righteousness’ to say how some people are bad people? We all do this to a certain extent because we live in a land where we have to uphold the law.
 
When the teachers of the law had Jesus in front of them, they brought in a person who had been caught in the act of adultery. Now, according to the laws handed down via Moses, someone who was caught in the act of adultery should be stoned to death! Not nice, but those were the laws to try and prevent people from causing so much pain and hurt in other peoples’ lives.
 
When they confronted Jesus, He asked which one of them had not done something wrong in their lives... and none of them could answer because, just like you and I, they had done something wrong. Let’s face facts – we are all guilty of something or other and because of that, we don’t really have the right to bring judgement upon others!
 
God has taught us we need to have witnesses and trials to make sure people who are accused of doing wrong get what they deserve – but when it comes to taking a life, do we really have the right if we have done things wrong in our lives which can be just as damaging as what they have done wrong. This is a debatable topic and one which has caused many countries to stop the death penalty all together. Jesus is willing to forgive anything we have done is we are willing to try and change after admitting what we have done is wrong in God’s eyes.
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you blame others for what is wrong in your community?
 
Have you tried changing your community through love?