“I drink with the boys,” she told him. “In fact, yesterday when I sat before you, I was drunk.”
We are no different, are we?
It’s so easy to get caught up in toxic behavior—searching for a way to take the edge off our shame, worry, fear, or low self-esteem. But when the alcohol, drugs, porn, shopping, control, or pride wears off, what is left? How do we manage then? We are going to need something more than just a brief anesthetic for our pain.
“Can I be forgiven?” It was the first question she asked her teacher. She had been keeping bad company for some time, but now desired forgiveness…to change her life…to be made new.
The teacher looked into this little girl’s eyes and could see that she was serious about what she was asking for. She meant what she said—every word of it. She wanted to experience true life-change.
“You are already forgiven,” he told her. “He’s already forgiven you.”
Scripture:
“Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” John 8:10-11
Prayer:
Jesus, you are so kind to us. Your words, “I do not condemn you”…may they be written on the tablet of our hearts, so we will know that we are sons and daughters of the most high God.
Life on Life Curriculum.
Children around the world carry unimaginable burdens. Burdens we can’t begin to comprehend. Needa learned to forgive and love an unloving and uncaring mother. She learned about The Supremacy of Forgiveness. Esther, Anita, Vikas, Amisha, and Vinit learned how Forgiveness Mends Broken Children.
David C Cook’s Life on Life curriculum has many lessons on forgiveness and is transforming lives around the world. Lives like Needa, Esther, Anita, Vkas, Amisha, and Vinit in the stories above.
You too can be forgiven.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. —John 3:16-17
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. —John 1:12
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9
