All Need Forgiveness

For the season of Lent I'll be sharing devotions from Grace Lutheran's devotional book: "Forgiven." 

While these devotions are not my words and may not represent my own faith or theological understanding, they are valuable personal faith perspectives of 40 of Grace's members and I am so grateful for their generosity in sharing them.

Part Two: Understanding Forgiveness

John 8:1-11  (all need forgiveness)

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”


Understanding forgiveness! Do we understand it?  We think we do, and then we don't.  What I mean is ----- we may still harbor a feeling of blame or resentment. To truly understand  forgiveness we need to look to our Savior's examples. In the passage of John 8:1-11,  He is teaching in the temple when the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery.  They want to see if He will impose a stoning on her as Moses had commanded.  Jesus writes something in the sand.  Then says:  If any of you are without sin, throw the first stone.  They all disappear, and He is left with the woman who is told to go and sin no more.  Good example of forgiveness?  Better example of forgiveness:  He died to forgive us of our sins!

Prayer:
Father keep reminding us to be forgiving because we need forgiving everyday.
  Amen
~ Martha

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