I Am in the Crowd

John 8:7 - When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

I think the hardest thing we are faced with is forgiveness. There are many people who I have come across that battle with this. Many have a hurt or pain that has happened to them that is too much for them to forgive. Holding on to the injustice that has happened in their life is a form of retribution. "I will show them, I will not love them any longer." The thing about not forgiving others is that it ruins our life and our relationship with Christ. It has a way of setting us apart from God. We say that we know Jesus forgave us and them, but I can not tolerate this wrong and demand punishment. We are saying that we know better than Christ how we should treat others.

It becomes a very humbling experience when we become faced with the cold hard truth that we are guilty also. Can we look honestly at ourselves, taking into account our motives and desires of our actions, and not come to the realization that we are worse than those we condemn? How then do we stand before God and condemn. Yes, I am in the crowd about to stone the prostitute, until I realize that I am even worse. Then I can forgive. There is much grace in being convinced of our Sin.