Jesus told the woman who had committed adultery in John 8:11:
“Woman, go and sin no more your sins are forgiven you.”
Everything in the Bible is the Living Word of God. I believe Jesus addressed her as “woman” and not by her name because He knew that some of us would read those same very words and need to personalize them:
“Kelly, your sins are forgiven you – GO and sin no more.”
“(ADD YOUR NAME HERE) your sins are forgiven you- GO and sin no more.”
(I’m personalizing this – throw your name in there and say it!)
Can you imagine the amazing flood of relief and healing and love that washed over this woman?
Can you imagine how incredulous she felt? How renewed and refreshed and loved? We don’t know her background, we aren’t told WHY she did what she did, what circumstances rose up in her life to make her settle for less in her life. But GOD did.
And it is the same with you. If you are in a time in your life (such as she was), if you are prodigal and you have turned away from God and are doing things and living in sin or a life of sin – God SEES you. He SEES you!
And just like the prodigal (you can read about in Luke 15:11-32) if you have lost your way due to your own bad choices, it can be hard to hear beyond the mocking of ol’ slewfoot and the condemnation of own self. But Your Father is waiting for you to tire of it, to realize there is NO peace in living without Him. To come to the realization that you have “settled for less” when he has SO much more for you! Sometimes the Father (although I’m sure it pains Him) allows you to choose in your own free will choices that He knows are going to wound you, scar you, cause you sorrow because He knows that ultimately it will give you a better understanding and desire to draw closer to Him.
The prodigal had thought that his father’s inheritance would bring him happiness, fulfillment and EVERYTHING he visualized he wanted. But what it brought him was to the realization that what He REALLY needed most of all – was his father. As he sat looking into the trough of food that was for pigs, he realized he had sunk as low as he could sink. Have you sunk that far yet? When you come to the absolute realization that what you REALLY need is ALL that the Father wants to give you? HIMSELF?
I’ve been in the place of a prodigal, when you have made mistakes and you are walking back home trying to sort out WHY you made them in the first place? Knowing that you can’t “undo” what has been done but you can try to the best of your ability to make it right and know that the only way to do that is to go back to Your Father (God) and confess how wrong you were.
To ask for His forgiveness, and that road back home is a hard one, because all the while ol’ slewfoot is dancing around you, mocking you, pointing his finger at you, critiquing you, causing doubts to form in your mind that make you almost want to turn around and give up. Then the voice of condemnation within your own self rises up and beats you up a fresh over what you have done or where you have been and forgiving ourselves can sometimes be the hardest thing to do of all.
That road back to the father feels long and hard – but here is the thing…. In the story of the Prodigal, the father saw his son from a distance returning home! And He came RUNNING out to meet Him halfway! God is right there, anticipating this moment! Waiting for your return! He’s RUNNING out to meet you! And as you humbly, contritely, brokenly stand before Him, eyes lowered to the ground, shoulders slumped, looking anguished and defeated asking for forgiveness, confessing your sins – what does your Father do? He raises up your chin with His finger. And what you see is relief! What you see is LOVE! What you see is forgiveness! And He wraps His arms around you and bear-hug loves you! Which makes it all the better (and all the worse) because you feel like such a failure. But Your Father doesn’t see you that way.
He is looking at You and He is saying what Jesus said to that adulterous woman:
“Kelly, (ADD YOUR NAME HERE) your sins are forgiven you GO and sin no more!”
And much to ol’ slewfoot’s dismay, God enables you to be able to use your prodigal time to witness God’s love and forgiveness and grace and mercy to others and Holy Spirit takes your mess and how God delivered you from it to minister to someone else who is where YOU yourself once was! And what does it cause them to do? RUN TO THE FATHER! Because they see what He has set free, forgiven, healed and brought YOU out of! And your mess becomes a message and an added part of your testimony because GOD IS GREATER than your mistakes. And NOTHING comes as a surprise to Him. And most of all – HE LOVES YOU.
The worst place in the world to be – is without Him. He’s calling your name. It’s time to turn around and go home. The porch light is on and there’s a Father looking diligently out the window waiting for His child to come back. “Go and sin NO more.” Your Father’s calling you. Isn’t it time you listened? You know it is…
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