She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. — John 8:11
Growing up, I know that I used to always test my parent’s patience. I would do things that I know they said I shouldn’t do. Sure, I knew that I was doing something wrong. But at that moment, I didn’t see the wrong. Instead, I was only focused on doing the thing I wanted to do.
There were varying degrees of punishment that I found myself in. At times, I was grounded, perhaps they took away something important, or they gave me a new chore to do. But I will never forget the words that I was often told after. Typically, after the punishment was over, I heard the words, “Don’t do it again.”
That is not to say that my life was perfect after. On many occasions since those times, I have made mistakes. There are times I have failed to listen to good advice. Several times, I knew that I shouldn’t do something, but I still did. Perhaps I was out of my parent’s home by this point in time, but I still remember those words, “Don’t do it again.”
Those words remind me of what Jesus told the woman here in John 8. The people were ready to kill her for her sin. But Jesus, instead of stoning her, knew that she was human. He asked who among them was without sin and perfect. No one was. Jesus chose to forgive and encourage her to live a life without sin.
We are not much different than the people with the stones. We are quick to judge and quick to cast stones for the mistakes of others. But we are all sinners. We are all guilty of mistakes and failures. Instead of casting stones, we should look to encourage a life apart from sin.
Scripture tells us that we should leave the judgment to God. Rather than judging people and looking to cast stones, we should be encouraging them by saying, “Don’t do it again.” Because, in the end, we are all sinners. We all make mistakes, and it is purely by the grace of God that we don’t find ourselves in the same situation they are in.
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