Exposed

Given our current technology, it is very easy to have our identity made public. At any time, day or night with the help of the Internet, our lives can be read by millions of people. Facebook and other social media have become so popular they are read and checked daily as one might read his or her latest favorite novel. I know this because I own a computer and I am on Facebook!

What I have found personally is that it can be a wonderful resource for connecting with people with whom you might otherwise have lost touch because of distance or lack of current information. However, as with most things that have positive power, social media also has the power to destroy. Recently, through the use of such technology, a computer website promoting marital unfaithfulness has become public, where participants names are listed for the whole world to see. Although adultery, both in and outside of the church is a very serious topic, it is not what this writing is about.

When the religious leaders of Jesus’ day found a woman caught in the act of adultery, they brought her before Him for judgment. Many Bible scholars believe the religious leaders had actually set the woman up in an attempt to create a scenario where Jesus would have to choose between punishment or acceptance. Punishment would have called for stoning the woman to death; acceptance would have made Jesus look weak on the understanding of sin, discrediting His view on keeping The Law, which God had given to Moses. “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time….” [John 8:6-9, emphasis mine]

We have no proof of what it was Jesus was actually writing in the dirt, but I have often wondered, given the sudden breaking up of the crowd, if maybe Jesus was writing each of their names with a list of their own personal sins, which would have required legally addressing according to The Law of Moses.

Precious friend, you and I are sinners! And, while our names and indiscretions may not be posted on a website for all to see, God sees it all. The collateral damage of any sin is far reaching and does not call for celebration. Neither should it pique our sense of curiosity as one who is without sin. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….” [Romans 3:22-23]

Father, I am so thankful You do not write my sins across the sky for all to see! AMEN

To the One Who tells us we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” [Romans 3:24]