Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – what do we do with the guilty, stone or restore? Is punishment restorative? What is God like with the guilty?
John 8:4-5,7 TPT
[4] Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery. [5] Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?” [7] Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.”
Observation
How do I respond to guilty people? The question here of the woman’s guilt is never debated, it’s what do we do with the guilty? So often God is moulded as the stand-over judge and punisher, but here God is in the dust with the guilty forgiving. Is it that sin has its own punishment inbuilt, but forgiveness must be brought to the guilty? When I’m guilty then the consequences of my actions contain the deserved punishment, but what I need more than punishment is restoration. Jesus shows us that God restores and does not judge. Jesus shows us that the posture of God is with the lawbreaker, not defending the breach of law, but restoring the one who is guilty. Punishment never restores, it only punishes, look at our prison system.
How do I respond to guilty people? Do I have stones of judgement, or a broken heart for their brokenness, for its brokenness that leads to sinfulness? Am I in the dirt, identifying with the guilty, knowing myself to be guilty also? This is what Jesus did when he wrote in the sand, he showed those with stones in their hands that they are guilty also. When we know we are guilty also our posture changes from punishment to restoration. None of us want punishment we all want forgiveness and restoration, for these are the only remedies for brokenness. Forgiveness starts the healing and transformative process. Punishment never restores it only convicts, labels and condemns. Stones are easy to pick up, getting down and dirty in the work of forgiveness and restoration is the posture of our God. I was made in his likeness, the true me gets dirty like him.
Application
Get dirty, drop stones, see me in them, forgive and restore, this is the man I am, the one made in God’s image and likeness. Remember who I am when I see the guilty. Remember I am guilty, and remember I am like God. Be personally broken over their brokenness, don’t look for stones to break them. Remember without Jesus I deserve stoning.
Response
Thank you for being a forgiving God, not a stone judge. No one could stand before you, let alone be intimately living in your presence, without the beautiful gift of never-ending forgiveness. For guilt would condemn us all, always. I love living forgiven, it’s your kindness that leads me in the path of healing restoration, which always starts with the embrace of my brokenness and the choice of repentance. Without forgiveness, I hide from brokenness and never get to identify awareness. Thank you that you restore me intimately not restrain me coercively. I love life in your presence and intimacy. Thank you for your forgiveness.
Meditation
Meditate – Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone.
Consider:
Am I a stoner or a restorer?
Do I know the depth of forgiveness God has granted me?
JOURNEY DEEPER
