Many often wonder what is unique about the Christian faith. The primary teaching that makes Christianity so different is grace. Christianity is the only religion that believes that God’s love is offered to us for free, and that His grace and mercy are available to everyone.
That is such a precious gift to realize that God paid the price for our salvation; He provided the perfect Lamb so we may receive forgiveness. That is God’s grace.
We all want God’s grace and mercy. We want that forgiveness. But we must ask: “How quickly are we willing to give that grace to others?”
In John 8, the Pharisees and scribes tested Jesus. They were looking for some way to condemn him, so they brought a woman caught in adultery and placed her in the center of where Jesus was teaching. They wanted to know what Jesus would do, and they brought up Lev. 20:10, which said that such a person should be put to death. This was a violation of God’s instructions.
What did Jesus do? He stooped down and wrote something with his finger on the ground. Many have often wondered what he wrote. Some see the symbolism of the finger of God writing on the tablets on Mt. Sinai. So maybe he wrote some of God’s commandments. Some think Jesus may have written the sins that those Pharisees had committed. While other think, remembering Jeremiah 17:13, that he wrote their names in the dust.
But whatever he wrote, scripture has not revealed that to us. What we do know is that Jesus said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then again he wrote some more in the dirt.
There was no dispute as to the sin of the woman, but we would ask, “Where was the man?” Lev. 20:10 required that both the man and the woman be punished. We must face it; we frequently pick and choose who we want to condemn and who we want to let “off the hook.” We overlook our own sins, while we condemn others. We justify ourselves by thinking “my sin is not so bad.”
Jesus then did something unusual. He asked the woman who was condemning her. All had left. So, Jesus said that he did not condemn her so she may leave. But he gave her a command: Stop sinning.
Paul tells us that we have ...
