ERCC DEVOTIONAL (TEKAN) DAILY SPIRITUAL DIET; TUESDAY 14TH NOVEMBER, 2023
TEXT: JOHN 8: 1 - 11.
SPIRITUAL FOCUS: GOD IS FORGIVING.
Reading today, the story of a woman who was arrested for adultery. The story is well-known in the Bible. The Scribes and Pharisees were always trying to get Jesus to do something wrong. Happily, they do not always succeed. Adultery is a terrible sin.
But if we think about this bad thing, we will see that it is not too much to forgive. The Jews had a tradition that anyone found guilty of adultery should be stoned to death. Now this woman was condemned to death, but Jesus followed the path of forgiveness; that is, He showed mercy to the woman.
Most often those who fight for the killing of sinners are also sinners. Jesus saw that none of those men were inoceent of sin. He first forgave her for her sins of adultery. He then warned her, with a stern warning.
"From now on, sin no more" (verse 11). Jesus' forgiveness of sins shows that he has the power to forgive sins. With that, the woman survived. This assures us that every sinners who comes to Jesus will be forgiven in abundance.
Jesus' warning is not only for this woman, but also for us who believe in Him. By death we are saved and we have eternal life. Therefore, let us not sin anymore.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
PRAYER: Lord God, help me to, give me the power to avoid any kind of sin in Jesus' name, Amen.
JOHN 8: 1 - 11 (NLT).
1 A Woman Caught in Adultery
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,
2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.
3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.
7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”
8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.
10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
