Title Forgive Yourself
John (54) Forgive yourself (8:1-8)
<Forgive yourself>
Cerebral Palsy Poet Song Myeong-hee's mother was very faithful and kind when she was a virgin. At that time, an old preacher wanted to make her a daughter-in-law, but she refused the offer because she vowed to serve the Lord alone for the rest of her life. However, I was too insistent, so I ended up getting married, and the daughter I gave birth to was the poet Song Myung-hee. After that, he sometimes lamented about his daughter. “My daughter did that because I didn’t keep my vow to be single.”
Does God really make the child disabled because he did not carry out the good resolve of the saint? no. If you are a pure virgin with good faith, at least once, say, “God! I want to be single and serve only God!” Breaking that promise is not God who makes his children disabled. When it's hard, you think of past mistakes and think, "That's why I have to suffer this time." Only God knows the exact cause of suffering. Forgive yourself by letting go of the habitual guilt that you blame yourself for every time something happens.
The greatest power in this world is the power of forgiveness. A person is renewed when he is forgiven. After all, what a person most needs is the ability to forgive. To gain that power, first let go of legalism. In verses 3-5, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and put Jesus to the test by using the law of Moses. But you cannot live by the law alone. In a great sense, there is not a single person who will not be caught by the law.
Also, the bigger problem of the legalists in the text was the double standard. According to the law, if you commit adultery, you would seize a man and a woman and stone them to death. How often do you entangle others by interpreting the law like that? Now, rather than live by the law, live by the principle of higher grace. All blessings are given by grace. To whom does grace come? There is no definite formula, but grace is usually given to those who value grace over the law.
< Silence is better than loud noise >
When the crowd asked questions to test Jesus, Jesus did not answer and wrote something with his finger on the ground (verses 6, 8). Sometimes silence is more persuasive than loud sounds. People usually tend to get louder when they are less confident. When we pray, we shout “I believe it!” out loud sometimes because we really have faith, but there are many times when we say that because we don’t have faith. Sometimes silence is a greater expression of faith, and often it moves people with greater appeal.
In China's No Dynasty, there was a man named Wang Tai who had his leg severed. Seeing a large number of students flocking to him, the disciple of Confucius, Sanji, asked: "Teacher! Wang Tae, a crippled man with only one leg, looks humble on the outside, so why do so many people admire him?” Confucius answered. “Because of the stillness of his heart that is not moved by anything. Just as a person reflects their image in still water rather than flowing water, the calm and pure heart of Teacher Wang Tae becomes a mirror that reflects them, so they flock to it. From that conversation, the phrase Myeonggyeongsu (明鏡止水) originated.
Religious people and believers are different. Religious people are usually busy and noisy, but believers usually silently pray, serve, and practice love. Always keep your ears above your mouth, and your actions speak louder than words. Quietly feel God's hand in silence, especially during hardships. Bare branches in the cold winter seem lifeless, but strong vitality is hidden in their roots. And during the winter, the life deepens and becomes stronger inside, and when spring comes, the life is revealed.
Learn to spend the winter of your life well. Winter is cold and difficult, but it is a must-have season. How you deal with winter shortens its length. Paul said, “We bless even when we are reviled” (1 Corinthians 4:12). God causes the little things to be lost for a while and gives the greater and more glorious things (2 Corinthians 4:17). Believe and be thankful that you will be an instrument of blessing in the future by persevering even if you are faced with difficult and unfair things at times. Difficult and difficult times are when God works more for us.