"Go and Sin No More"

Passage to read: John 8:1-11

Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, 

“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

(John 08: 10,11)

A powerful sentence spoken by Jesus. Every Sunday, when we walk out of the church, these words should be ringing in our ears. The words are on one side comforting and hope-giving, but on the other side, they demand the strict disciplines of a God-fearing life. 

So many times, we do make mistakes, we sin against the Lord and we run for His grace that forgives us. It may be easy to say the "amen" for the prayer of forgiveness. It may be normal for us to kneel at the altar for the Holy communion and to get up and walk back to our seats while giving a nice smile for those seated and staring at you. It may be casual to always finish your daily quiet times with the confidence of your sins being admitted and forgiven. But it is important for us to keep that in mind that in all these above situations, our hearts should be reminding us of these life-changing words. "Go and Sin No More."

I have found myself, so many times, rejoicing in the happiness of being forgiven. Every sin that I had done, when declared with an open and broken heart in front of the Lord's presence, gives the assurance of God's forgiveness. It also leads me to the hope of living a joyous life. But seldom do I remember that the Lord who has forgiven my sins because of His grace has also asked me to 'sin no more!" If I could have these words in my heart as a remembrance of my last confession, I know that I would be careful. When Jesus said these words, He said it with a purpose. He pronounced the secret for the joy of salvation to last. 

In the above incident that we have read, we see God's grace in action. A conflict between the accuser and accused. A woman is being brought by a crowd of religious leaders, saying that they had caught her in the act of adultery. They expected a judgement from Jesus so as to trap Him, but they least knew that they were giving Jesus another chance to revolutionize the thinking. They quoted the law of Moses saying this woman had to be stoned. They knew Jesus would have a different view. As they kept insisting on an answer from Jesus, He calmly said “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” One by one, everyone in the crowd left, until Jesus and the woman being accused were left alone. As a solution to the conflict, Jesus not only makes sure that all the accusers leave the place, but He also showed the way for the woman to treasure His grace. “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

I believe this is one of the most important things in our walk of faith. This discipline of reminding ourselves of not to sin anymore is essential. Every time when you enjoy the privilege of God's grace, every day when you know that you are living by His grace, every moment that you remember how much God has forgiven you, it is important that you remember that the Lord has forgiven you so that you could Go (into the world full of temptations) and Sin No More (with the momentary choices of asking for God's strength to keep away from sin). 

I pray that the Lord will help each of us to live according to what He expects of us. He has forgiven us so many times whenever we went running to Him, but remember that the Lord has asked us to sin no more. May the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the presence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit help us to remember that we are called by God to go into this world with His forgiveness but to leave our life of sin. God wants not only our prayers to be heartfelt but our lives also to be disciplined. 

May God bless you.

Yours in Christ,