One of my most memorable memories of growing up was spending time with my
Dad. Some of the earliest recollections are when my parents bought a new house,
with an unfinished upstairs. On Saturday morning, he would meet Henry who built
the house to finish it, and I would go along. I was probably more in the way
than helpful at age 5, but I can remember picking nails, sweeping, and handing
things to my Dad he asked me for. I may not have been an intricate part of the
construction, but I was helping my Dad, and that has stuck with me all these
years. I cannot remember individual events except for meeting early at the
Flying A truck stop and having a 7 Up for breakfast, but it made me feel wanted
and excited when I got home tired and dirty from a day’s work. Telling my
Mother all the things I did. It was a day spent with my Father, and I think he
enjoyed it just as much.
Raising my sons they were shown how to wash cars, cut yards, and the one
they joke about the most, and remind me of the most, picking up turds in the
yard. They did all the little things, then worked up to bigger things. As they
got older, it was a joy to see them wash the car, to take care of the details,
to wash the motorcycles, and help out around the house. Often without being
asked, they saw something that needed to be done, and wanted to please us, doing
it to the standards we had shown them. We were blessed and still are to have
the help out, and remembered how much an encouraging word of thanks means to
them. An acknowledgment of job well done, a blessing to us, and a blessing to
them by blessing us. We tried to encourage our sons to help, sometimes
reluctantly, sometimes willingly, and sometimes being coerced by a reward or
promise, but they generally did. And still do....but they now have their own
lives. And it is a blessing to see the good things we are passing on to them,
they are passing on. Seems the words get forgotten, but the actions don’t.
Probably a lesson in there for all of us....
Personally I am tired of hearing about the woman accused of adultery by her
accusers. So much is said about her and her accusers, as to what Jesus wrote in
the dirt, and how they fled one by one. Leaving her face to face with Jesus,
one to one. His famous words “go and sin no more” have echoed in churches for
years, but how could he say that? What did he know the others didn’t? What had
really happened here that we aren’t told of? How could he tell this woman
supposedly caught in sin to just go and sin no more?
The same way he tells us when we are saved. Something happens where we
take on a new nature, we become new creatures in Christ. Behold the old is
passed away, and in this meeting, among her accusers and enemies, her heart
changed. So did the accusers, who couldn’t stand in the righteousness, but she
could. She had become that new creature, she saw Jesus for who he was, and
repented. Maybe not the words, but God looks on the heart, and he saw the
change. Maybe written in the dirt was the gospel, you must be born again.
Whatever it was, it caused all there to turn to Jesus, or to turn away. Just
like when the spirit confronts us and asks us to make a decision on who Jesus
really is. But how can he say to her go and sin no more? Maybe the same way he
says to us....
He know we will sin again, but our heart has been changed, and the
willingness is gone. We are a work in process, not perfect yet, and will
stumble and fall, make bad decisions, and go astray. We still need the great
shepherd to guide us, protect us, and reunite us after our latest sins get
between us. There is no way on her own she can keep from sinning, it takes the
spirit to guide, and our willingness to obey and follow. He doesn’t forgive us
so we can return to our sinful past, but so we can go ahead with him, in his
spirit. When our sins are forgiven we change, go and live differently, start a
new life, and spend more time with our Dad in heaven. Abba Father, Jesus tells
us, just call him Dad. And now she could because she was part of the family and
had all the rights and blessings of the kingdom. While her accusers left, she
stayed with Jesus. Forgiveness is designed to set us free, to allow us to have
a hope and a new future. Jesus is not foolish enough to think she would never
sin again, just as we will too. But now we know like she did how sin is
replaced by forgiveness and grace, when seeing Jesus for who he is. Not a set
of rules to follow, but an actual person. A person who is set free to be all we
can be in Christ. We remember the words Jesus spoke to her, do we fail to see
the action?
And God doesn’t need our help, only our participation. Just like my Dad
probably could get more done without a 5 year old’s help, he included me, and it
was time well spent. A new part of our relationship was formed and I was able
to see and say what my Dad and I had done together. As a team, no matter how
little I helped, still part of the team. You can become the part of God’s team
today, just like the woman caught sin, or walk away, coming face to face with
Jesus, but rejecting his message. Simply written in the same dirt he created us
from, showing us the way back to his father. Helping Dad as he was instructed
to do, obeying what his father told him, but doing it willingly so we can be
reunited to him in heaven. We pray that by his hand we must be fed, give us
Lord our daily bread. But how many only hear the words, but never see the
writing? One accused, and many accusers did, only one changed. Go and sin no
more. If only the men had reacted to the message in the dirt, they too would
have been set free. To go and sin no more. They missed out on the real
message, for God doesn’t condemn, Jesus came to save. Doing it right in front
of all to see. He wrote the message in the dirt, but really it was transferred
to the woman’s heart. Nothing is mentioned about what happened to the writing,
was it erased or left for others to see. Did any of the men go back and view it
again? What did they do the next time they saw Jesus on the street? The
woman? One woman was saved, how many seeds thrown that day we’ll never know.
Jesus never passed them up, but what he passed on made them make a decision.
Time well spent with him, and his dad. Abba Father, how many of us have an
unfinished upstairs and don’t know it?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com