Recently, I have been considering two accounts in the Gospel of John.
The first concerns the man born blind (John 9:1-34), while the second is about the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11). Both of these passages show the compassionate, restorative heart of Jesus as He came face-to-face with several painful, sinful, real-life circumstances.
When painful circumstances of life, such as these, become evident, it seems that religious people are often quick on the scene, willing to play many different roles… except the one they should play.
Some, like those in John 9, rush to play the role of detective, trying their best to follow the clues and uncover the answers. Others, like those in John 8, take a more aggressive approach, playing the role of a prosecutor demanding a verdict from their self-convened and self-governed court of “justice.”
As I ponder the approaches used by people, I must ask a question, “Where is their mercy?”
Please understand that I don’t propose that we take sin lightly. God certainly doesn’t. In fact, He takes sin so seriously that it cost Him His life. But beyond the issue of sin, at the heart of what God did for us on the Cross, was the issue of mercy. Because of the great love that He has for us, He does not want sin to have the last word in our lives.
I am firmly convinced that when we wander from him, his heart is grieved far less by our wandering than by the consequences we might have to suffer.
When Adam chose to rebel against God in Genesis 3, nowhere do we see God raging against Adam, saying things like, “How dare you violate My will? Who do you think you are? Now you’re going to pay for what you have done!” The infinitely holy and loving God of the universe is not co-dependent on us and our behavior. We do not ruin His day when we sin.
In Genesis 3, He pronounced curses against both the ground and the serpent, but He did not curse His children. Instead, He allowed consequences. That is what a loving parent does. Yes, there will be discipline, but discipline is very different from punishment because at the heart of discipline are the motives of love and restoration. Our loving Father does not react against His kids. He responds to help us learn from our foolish choices. The goal behind His discipline is that we learn to trust Him.
God wants us to experience life to the fullest, instead of the death that sin brings to our lives.
When His discipline has its desired effect, the grief (Ephesians 4:30) He experienced when we wandered, is overshadowed and overwhelmed by the joy He experiences when we come home. Do you remember the story of the Prodigal Father in Luke 11? God was reckless, lavish, and wasteful with His love, both when the boy began to wander and when that wandering boy came home. That passage is so very clear. The Father was not concerned about where he had been. In fact, He doesn’t even mention it! He simply was overjoyed that His son had come home. There was so much more joy in the Father’s heart about His son being found than there was regret that His son had been lost.
Dear one, if your pain was brought on by your own sinful choices, please understand the heart of your heavenly Father toward you as revealed in the story of the Prodigal. If you choose to come home to Him, His arms are open to receive you. In fact, as you are coming home, He will run out to meet you.
The only time God ran in the entire Bible was the day he ran to welcome home His Son, who had chosen to live so sinfully.
Please understand that there might be consequences you will face from your choices. And both these and the pain they cause could last a lifetime. But be certain that He will be with you in those consequences. You will not face them alone. With His arms around you, He will walk with you through this fallen world. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He will be with you until you go to be with Him, forever in the place where there will be no more tears and no more pain (Revelation 21:4).
Hear this, and let it sink in…
It does not matter what you have done, how many times you did it, when you did it, or who did it with you. God loves you!
He has already paid the price for what you did at the Cross of His Son. He wants to be in intimate relationship with you, so He can be everything to you. All this is yours if you simply come home to Him.
We know that not all our suffering arises from our poor choices. Sometimes we are simply victims of a fallen world. If this describes you, and you’re experiencing loss or illness, do not become trapped in the destructive pattern of automatically thinking that your sin caused your calamity. Here’s why:
We know from our Father’s Word (John 16:8) that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to reveal any sin you might have committed. He is very good at His job and never shirks His responsibility to us. So, just ask Him about your circumstances. Ask Him to show you whether your sin is involved.
If you do not receive the instantaneous conviction of the Holy Spirit that you have done wrong, then stop playing the blame game.
Stop putting yourself in the crosshairs. Put an end to your self-condemnation.
There is already an accuser, our enemy Satan (Revelation 12:10), and he certainly does not need your help. Neither does he need the help of the misguided souls we saw in John 8 and 9—those well-intentioned dragons who show up and want to play the role of Holy Spirit in your life.
Sometimes we make poor choices and consequences follow. Sometimes our life circumstances don’t resemble those in Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kinkade paintings. And sometimes our future doesn’t match our dreams. When we find ourselves there—and we all do at times—we must remember that, while our circumstances might change, our path to freedom and life never changes.
It looks like this:
- Receive the finished work of Jesus, which makes you right!
- Stand tall in the forgiveness you have, despite your shortcomings … especially when this fallen world tries to knock you down!
- Fix your eyes on Him, Who is not only the Author of your salvation but the Perfecter of it as well.
- Embrace the glory that Paul proclaimed in Philippians 1:6, “that He Who began the good work in you, will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”.
- Lay hold of His powerful resurrection life that is in you and, in the words of my friend John Russin, “Push back the darkness in your life!”
Remember the glorious truth that Jude put forth to the saints in his small but power-packed epistle. “Now to Him, Who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in His presence, blameless with great joy!” (Jude 1:24)
