New Life

Go and sin no more.

John 8:11

THE STORY OF HOW Jesus treated an adulterous woman is one of many amazing examples of forgiveness and redemption in the Bible. The woman was guilty; she was actually caught in the act of adultery. But not only did Jesus save her from being stoned to death, but He also declined to condemn her for living the kind of life she had been living.

It’s not hard to imagine the woman as she left the area that day, a happy and relieved smile spreading across her tear-streaked face. With that redemption came a responsibility. Jesus didn’t give her a free pass to keep acting as she pleased. Her life had been saved, and she was free to live a new life now.

Don’t make the mistake of using your faith in Jesus as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Forgiveness is not a license to keep sinning. Although your debt has already been paid by God’s grace, don’t keep piling up charges.

More than two thousand years later, the lesson of the woman caught in adultery still resonates with us. She was given a new lease on life from the author of life Himself. And rather than see her go right back to living the way she had been, He invited her to live the life of a cleansed, forgiven, free-from-condemnation woman. God’s grace not only covers our sin; it also enables us to live a whole new life of joyful obedience.

BOTTOM LINE

As forgiven Christians, we’re free from the shackles of sin. It’s up to us not to put them right back on again.

Moment of Strength: John 3:16-18