John 8: 8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² He awoke early in the morning to return to the temple. When He arrived, the people surrounded Him, so He sat down and began to teach them. ³ While He was teaching, the scribes and Pharisees brought in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery; and they stood her before Jesus.

Pharisees: ⁴ Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Moses says in the law that we are to kill such women by stoning. What do You say about it?

⁶ This was all set up as a test for Jesus; His answers would give them grounds to accuse Him of crimes against Moses’ law. Jesus bent over and wrote something in the dirt with His finger. ⁷ They persisted in badgering Jesus, so He stood up straight.

Jesus: Let the first stone be thrown by the one among you who has not sinned.

⁸ Once again Jesus bent down to the ground and resumed writing with His finger. ⁹ The Pharisees who heard Him stood still for a few moments and then began to leave slowly, one by one, beginning with the older men. Eventually only Jesus and the woman remained, ¹⁰ and Jesus looked up.

Jesus: Dear woman, where is everyone? Are we alone? Did no one step forward to condemn you?
Woman Caught in Adultery: ¹¹ Lord, no one has condemned me.
Jesus: Well, I do not condemn you either; all I ask is that you go and from now on avoid the sins that plague you.

all that Jesus asks from us is that we will go and now avoid the sins that plague us...
often we feel condemned when we do something we knew we shouldn't... even something just as 'small' as gossip or anger...

all God really wants from us is for us to repent and turn from it...

He also called it the sins that plague her.. meaning we must all acknowledge that we have things that are sinful and plaguing us.. and yet Jesus is asking us to avoid them.. but He is not condemning us for them..

2 corinthians 3: 14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.

 

I wonder sometimes why people can't see what the scriptures are saying.. what the gift of Jesus really is...

 

it amazes me how often God allows someone's heart or mind to be hardened... I wouldn't expect Him to do that.. I would expect that He is saving the world not hardening their mind or heart... but many times throughout the bible we see that happening...

 

I wonder when my own heart was so hard.. was it done by God.. so that I would follow the path that brought me here.. if my heart were not hard would I have married someone else after big greg while I was supposed to stay alone... I may never know the answers to these questions.. as my thoughts are not the thoughts of God.. and my ways are not His ways...

1 John 2: The word “sin” has virtually disappeared from modern conversation. Afraid of sounding judgmental, we call sin something else—a mistake, an addiction, a tendency, a bad decision—and ignore it as normal and natural behavior. But John is calling the church to a radical holiness where those in the church will regularly remember their sins and seek God’s forgiveness. Each sin, small and large, injures us or someone else; it imprints on our soul, makes us imperfect, and separates us from the perfect God. If we confess our sins to God each day, then He will purify our hearts and draw us closer to Him.
2 You are my little children, so I am writing these things to help you avoid sin. If, however, any believer does sin, we have a high-powered defense lawyer—Jesus the Anointed, the righteous—arguing on our behalf before the Father. ² It was through His sacrificial death that our sins were atoned. But He did not stop there—He died for the sins of the whole world.

John is affectionately addressing this letter to his “little children,” and he is writing to help them avoid sin and the pain and guilt that come with it. The glamour of decadent lifestyles devoid of God is often advertised as the epitome of joy and freedom. But what are often conveniently left out of these portrayals are the agonizing consequences of such destructive lifestyles. Meaningful pleasure comes not when we are enslaved by the empty promises of the world, but when we are living in loving obedience to God.

³ We know we have joined Him in an intimate relationship because we live out His commands. ⁴ If someone claims, “I am in an intimate relationship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. ⁵ But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and filled him. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: ⁶ anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.

I thought it was very humbling... I know that I try to smooth over my own sins.. I justify that they are not as bad as what I used to be... yet every sin is separation from God and if we are not confessing these things when God touches us with conviction.. if we sweep them away.. which I think I have been doing... then it separates us... because it hasn't been confessed and repented of..

 

for my own self.. I am thinking of keeping a note pad of things that God tells me I am doing that I need to stop... the reason behind this is two-fold.. for one thing.. if I write it and confess it.. acknowledging it is sin.. then I am more likely to think twice before doing it again... secondly.. I think it will be a reminder that I am not nearly as together as I would like to say I am...

2 Peter 1: God took the first step to rescue us from this corrupt world. He has granted us His power, revealed to us true knowledge, and spoken to us great promises. He has done all this for a reason: that we might participate in His own nature and reflect His own life. But we are not passive observers of God’s saving actions. We must receive His grace, grow in knowledge, and join Him in this work of redemption.

⁵ To achieve this, you will need to add virtue to your faith, and then knowledge to your virtue; ⁶ to knowledge, add discipline; to discipline, add endurance; to endurance, add godliness; ⁷ to godliness, add affection for others as sisters and brothers; and to affection, at last, add love. ⁸ For if you possess these traits and multiply them, then you will never be ineffective or unproductive in your relationship with our Lord Jesus the Anointed; ⁹ but if you don’t have these qualities, then you will be nearsighted and blind, forgetting that your past sins have been washed away. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, work that much harder to confirm that God has called you and claimed you. If you do this, then you will never fall along the way; ¹¹ and you can be sure that you will be richly welcomed into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King.

 

I think we often think we go to the altar and get saved and go to church regularly.. we serve in a ministry... we let go of drinking or some of the outward sins... whatever they may have been.. and we are good... this is how we become judgmental... we forget that we still are not where we should be... Peter tells us just how much more there is do be changed and transformed...

faith... then virtue... then knowledge.. then discipline.. then endurance.. then godliness.. then affection... then love...

 

when I look at this list of qualities I need to have.. I see how short I am from where God will take me eventually... Peter goes on to say that if we don't have these qualities we are ineffective and nearsighted... and I would say in many ways I am these things...

 

strange how we think we have arrived.. then Jesus opens our eyes to see we are still just walking up the road.. thankfully.. we are walking toward Him and no longer backward!! but we have too far to go to become self righteous and judgmental now............

genesis 2: ²¹ So the Eternal God put him into a deep sleep, removed a rib from his side, and closed the flesh around the opening. ²² He formed a woman from the rib taken out of the man and presented her to him.

²³ Adam: At last, a suitable companion, a perfect partner. Bone from my bones. Flesh from my flesh. I will call this one “woman” as an eternal reminder that she was taken out of man.

²⁴ Now this is the reason a man leaves his father and his mother, and is united with his wife; and the two become one flesh. ²⁵ In those days the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 

I was thinking... how many times in our lives have we been completely comfortable in our naked body? especially in front of someone?

I think maybe it isn't so much about weight or shape as it is about acceptance... if we are accepted then we are comfortable...

I think if we were born for a man and to be a companion and partner to him... then you wonder why relationships aren't easier.. more comfortable... more secure... yet they aren't...

the only secure relationship I have today or ever have had is my relationship with God.. .Him... I am sure of and comfortable with.. even naked...

Esther 1: ¹⁰ On the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine, he told the seven eunuchs who attended him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas— ¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman. ¹² But when they conveyed the king’s order to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. This made the king furious, and he burned with anger.¹⁶ Memucan answered the king and his nobles, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also every noble and citizen throughout your empire. ¹⁷ Women everywhere will begin to despise their husbands when they learn that Queen Vashti has refused to appear before the king. ¹⁸ Before this day is out, the wives of all the king’s nobles throughout Persia and Media will hear what the queen did and will start treating their husbands the same way. There will be no end to their contempt and anger.

 

many women use this scripture to uphold women's rights and their right to stand against those in authority... vashti was not an israelite.. she did not know God.. she worshipped idols just like her husband did.. they were persian... the reason she refused to go when he called her may have been embarrassment.. it may have been pride... I would lean toward the pride... surely I realize that none of us want to be put on display before men... yet we do it all the time.. in the way we dress.. and the way we present ourselves as sexually desirable.. I also realize that it may be different for US to be the one initiating it rather than a man forcing us... in the times they were living... she did not have the right to go against him for the reason of him being her husband.. but also the fact that he was the king of the nation.. and what she did was to usurp his authority... she was the original jezebel spirit... and it cost her everything.... how many wives of our own day and age treat their husbands just like vashti treated the king...

 

Esther 4: ¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” ¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Esther 5: On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. ² When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter. ³ Then the king asked her, “What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”

 

while esther also did something that was forbidden... she put God first... her motives were not to raise up her own desires.. but instead to go on behalf of a nation... she had the entire nation to fast with her... then she prayed and clearly allowed God's will to be done and not her own...

how often do we try to act as though we are doing something righteous and really we are doing it to further ourselves?

if we put God first... humble ourselves before Him... then we receive all that He has for us...

the true difference between esther and vashti was not only God behind her.. but also pride vs humilty.. and humility and God won..

James 3: ¹³ Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others. ¹⁴ If your heart is one that bleeds dark streams of jealousy and selfishness, do not be so proud that you ignore your depraved state. ¹⁵ The wisdom of this world should never be mistaken for heavenly wisdom; it originates below in the earthly realms, with the demons. ¹⁶ Any place where you find jealousy and selfish ambition, you will discover chaos and evil thriving under its rule. ¹⁷ Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy. ¹⁸ The seed that flowers into righteousness will always be planted in peace by those who embrace peace.

 

I read this last saturday and thought.. wow... if my heart is jealous and I am selfish... do not ignore my depraved state...

I am often jealous... I don't know what causes it... I have tried to kill it.. to block it out.. to pretend it is not there.. yet it is.. even if I never say it out loud... and selfishness... well I am selfish.. and I think as I get older and stay alone.. it gets worse and worse...

 

I don't know what the answers are... but I agree that I need rid of these two evils...

 

they don't affect my peace at most times.. well.. I guess the jealousy does.. but not the selfishness.. and it probably should.. LOL v16 says anywhere you find jealousy and selfish ambition you will discover chaos and evil thriving.. I don't like to imagine I am full of evil or chaos either one... but I do know that God knows me better than I know myself... so maybe it is true...

James 4: ⁶ You may think that the situation is hopeless, but God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own interests. That’s why Scripture says, God opposes the proud, but He pours out grace on the humble. ⁷ So submit yourselves to the one true God and fight against the devil and his schemes. If you do, he will run away in failure. ⁸ Come close to the one true God, and He will draw close to you. Wash your hands; you have dirtied them in sin. Cleanse your heart, because your mind is split down the middle, your love for God on one side and selfish pursuits on the other.

Since the beginning, our loving Creator has been pursuing us, drawing us closer to Him. He invites us to move closer to Him so we can be fully His.

⁹ Now is the time to lament, to grieve, and to cry. Dissolve your laughter into sobbing, and exchange your joy for depression. ¹⁰ Lay yourself bare, facedown to the ground, in humility before the Lord; and He will lift your head so you can stand tall. ¹¹ My brothers and sisters, do not assault each other with criticism. If you decide your job is to accuse and judge another believer, then you are a self-appointed critic and judge of the law; if so, then you are no longer a doer of the law and subject to its rule; you stand over it as a judge. ¹² Know this—there is One who stands supreme as Judge and Lawgiver. He alone is able to save and to destroy, so who are you to step in and try to judge another?

I look at v8 and it states our mind is split down the middle.. part of us wanting our own will and part of us loving God.. I agree that is true... even when we act and talk as if it is not... even if we really do want God's will for our lives.. we still battle to die to self and our own wants... I don't think that just dies because we don't want to be like that or because we know it is wrong... it still lingers and we have to cast it out or cast it down over and over....

I think of us judging others... we all like to imagine we don't... but we do.. even if it is in small and seemingly irrelevant ways... we may not look at someone in judgement over some things... maybe we do not say that they cannot be saved because of their actions... but we judge them for something else... maybe the type of mother they are.. or the way they dress.. or the way they talk....

I heard that people are talking about someone I know recently.. that possibly he has done something sinful.. and I think... while we think that we are all supposed to walk upright... and that is what we strive for.. don't we all have our weaknesses? does this really reflect his relationship with God? I would be judgemental and say yes it does.. because if I can give up things for my relationship with God.. why couldn't someone else?? maybe it is about spiritual maturity.. maybe someone SHOULD BE spiritually mature enough to not outright sin.. but is that reality?

is an outward sin any different than a sin in attitude or anger or even the fact that someone would judge someone else... would their outward sin be any different than me determining they must not be completely right with God.. maybe I am not completely right with God because I am thinking like that...

on the flip side.. can we allow people to just sin openly and teach or hold positions in the church? my opinion is that they should have to step down... but am I right in that feeling? is that judging someone?

I think if we were minding our own business we may not even know someone else's situation... and unless they come and talk to us about it.. I think we are to leave it to leadership... pray and sin not... don't talk about it to others.. don't dwell on it.. don't look at them differently..... I really think this is the right thing... if they do come and talk to us personally... all we can do is give the advice in the word of God and pray with them... then let it go... trust God to take care of it....

we need to stop talking about one another.. we need to be a safe place to others... and the way to become that is to become trustworthy and honest...

1 kings 15: ⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

 

I read this and I thought... so the murder of uriah was the only time david didn't keep the commands of God? what about the adultery of bathsheba?? or was she so insignificant that it didn't count? these were my thoughts last night...

 

does God only care about the men? really? do we have evidence biblically that it is not true?

 

I know He cares for us... I know He uses women regularly.. but sometimes the way they word things about women is really a problem for me....

 

in my heart I believe that the adultery that he commited with bathsheba was also a time when he disobeyed and failed to keep the command of God.. adultery is one of the big 10... God cares about that... more than that.. because he was king.. she really didn't have too much choice in it... if he called her to him.. how could she say no thank you... it was not done... so this sin completely lay upon HIS soul.. not hers...

 

she may have ended up to be solomon's mother... she may have ended up david's wife... but she paid a very high cost for it... she lost a good man as a husband at the hand of the man she has to marry afterward.. she is pregnant with a child to the king while married to one of david's best soldiers... and all this happens with her having no say so... we don't know about her relationship with God... we don't know anything more about it... but I say she had a rough life.. even though she carried out God's will for her life...

 

so the moral of the story: God's will does not always look like we think it should.. and it certainly is not always something we would want.. but it will always affect more people than just us....