Sin, Sand, And Salvation

Do you remember the story in John's gospel of the Pharisees dragging a woman caught in adultery before Jesus, and telling him to judge her. According to the law of Moses, she should be stoned.

You can see the gleam in their eyes. They thought they had trapped Jesus. He had no way out. He had to condemn the woman. It was the law. But Jesus simply said, "Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone", (John 8:3‑11) and then he knelt down and wrote in the sand. Under fire from their own consciences, one by one, the men left.

"Is no one left to condemn you?" Jesus asked the woman. "No, Lord." she responded. "Then neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more."

In today's world, people don't like to talk about sin. And yet, it is life's most universal factor. "All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God." One little girl said, "I'm not always good, but when I'm not good, I'm miserable!"

Sin makes us miserable. It requires special handling. Normally, we can deal with ourselves fairly well. We do it with logic, with reasoning. We can pull ourselves up with our own boot straps. We think we should be able to get ourselves out of the mess we're in. But we cannot do it by ourselves. It takes "special handling" and that is the work of the Savior. Someone...some wonderful Someone has redeemed us, and set us free from the bondage of sin.

I don't know about you...but that really "makes my day!"