It’s Sunday, so say it by heart with me today:
“‘No one, Lord,’ she answered. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Now go and sin no more.’” Jn 8:11 BSB
God’s patience should never be mistaken for God’s permission. Yes, He loves us, and thank God He does or else we would all be condemned! Yes, He forgives us, and thank God He does or else we would have no way of paying our sin debt. And yes, He wants the very best for our lives here, and then forever, but we have a part to play. What is that part? “Go and sin no more.” Of course as we have said before, we are children who are still growing, learning, maturing and messing up. We will sin, and to think otherwise is making us more like these Pharisees, who thought they were above it all. This is not an excuse. This is however our reality.
Once we are born again, we must continue to grow. A sign of maturity is that it takes less and less time to be aware we are acting like our old, childish Self. The quicker we admit we are messing up, the quicker we can return to God and receive the help to stop. Once we surrender again to Jesus, submit to His way of thinking, then we can begin to obey Him once again and start acting from a place of peace and joy instead. This is what God wants for His children…so let’s choose to “go and sin no more” and reap the benefits of doing so.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
26- Jas 2:19
27- Dt 31:8
28- Jn 14:15
29- Jn 8:11
<>< Peace, Diane
