The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
This was where the Lord lead me in my quiet time a couple of days ago. He reminded me that He is the God of second chances. I also realized that when a person is given a second chance, the person is called to leave his/her life of sins behind and live according to His ways because He's the Lord of his/her life from then on. And the person, who has turned to the Lord-- now a Christian, is assured that:
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." -Romans 8:1-17
On another note, I'm very excited for the study on October 16, one of Connect's growth group- Care To Diall I - has been going through a series study on the Book of John and we will be studying John 8:1-11 then... If you can join it would be great! We meet up every 4pm in GCF Ortigas, at the Singles Room (ground flr lang yun, the room right beside the prayer room, you can also ask the front desk for info). Hehe.
So to you, dear reader(s), God bless you and I pray you will seek Him with all your heart... He loves you and He died for you and me-- for your sins and mine... Let's live for Him and Him alone!
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."' -1 John 4:10
1 comment:
It's amazing how God always gives us a second chance. Each day we wake up is a clean slate that we can start all over again! We often take for granted the beautiful sunrise that we wake up to, most of the time we forget to take time to thank Him for it. We usually go rushing through the day and start the day worrying about how to get to work and how busy the day will be. We never notice the smiles He gives us by letting the sun shine on us, the inspiration He sents us. Have you ever noticed how when sometimes you feel like you are just out of ideas or your brain is about to explode but you cannot seem to think of how to get out of a difficult situation and then....out of the blue you think of something! It's like God is saying, "don't worry you'll think of something". and then poof! you do think of something! Everyday is a second chance to live your life the way He wants you to live it but He will never pressure you into doing it. He wants you to come to Him. That's why He gave us FREE WILL. =) la lang.
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