Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grace Offered To Everyone

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said,

“All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!” -- John 8:7

A few years ago a woman at the church I was attending had an affair. She became pregnant. Her actions destroyed her marriage and put her teenage son in the untenable situation of defending her and living with the consequences of her actions.

But she chose to follow a different path, one that led away from her sin. She kept the baby and vowed to bring that child up in church, knowing Jesus and being surrounded by Christians. Some members of the church viewed her decision differently.

The Sunday for baby dedications loomed. She wanted to have her baby dedicated to God. There was no reason not to. She had sinned, not her child. The preacher agreed. The chairman of the deacons strongly disagreed. In fact, he left the church because he felt so strongly about this issue.

He forgot that Jesus offers grace to everyone, including this woman. She’d repented. She’s changed her life course. And she was determined not to repeat past mistakes. Her church family should have stood with her, not bickered over whether she deserved their forgiveness.

Then Jesus stood up again and said her,

“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said,

“Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” -- John 8:10-11

A year or so later, this man had a change of heart. He wanted to return to the church and the members welcomed him, even restoring him to a position as a deacon. I don’t know if his heart had truly changed but he missed his church and wanted his three boys to be taught by people he knew.

One son, not too far out of high school, met a girl and, well, you probably know where this is going. They did get married and a short time later their baby was born. Grace. Jesus offers grace to everyone.

So this hard-hearted man, determined to condemn a woman for a sin she couldn’t undo, himself faced such a situation with his child. It was a lesson we’d all do well to learn.