I spent a good portion of my life looking for true love. All my expectations had come from movies, books, t.v. and even a few of the successful marriages I’d seen firsthand through friendships. It was about six years (maybe more) I heard Jason Gray’s song, More Like Falling In Love before I finally began to realize what my relationship with God was all about.

For me, the definition of true love starts before Jesus ever got on that cross. For me, it starts in John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

This verse is in the middle of the full story, so let me give you a quick synopsis. The scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman taken in adultery. She wasn’t being accused of adultery, she’d been caught IN adultery. The Pharisees were once again tempting Jesus to try and find fault with him. Lets return back to verse 7b He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Take a moment to absorb this. I want to say before I go into the lesson being taught here. God values women. He always has, He always will. He is perfect and can see through our outer facade to who we are. In previous times (and in some countries still) women were expected to be quiet and supportive of their husbands, no matter what. Quite frankly (THIS IS MY OPINION) I believe God became sickened with the way HIS daughters were being treated and because they bore it in silence for so long, He gave them a way to speak up for themselves. Through the centuries things have changed for women and we need to be thankful for all the doors God opened that we might serve Him more fully.

Back to the passage. Remember this woman was CAUGHT in the act of adultery. Imagine what kind of woman this is, then try to imagine what thoughts are going through her head. For this woman to consider adultery (I’m going out on a limb here. NOT MAKING EXCUSES) I believe this was a broken woman. A woman who desperately sought love. To be loved, desired and cherished. In her pursuit of that she walked into adultery (maybe even ran to it, if the man she ran to was kinder than those she’d known in the past.)This is a broken woman, lost, looking for something so simple, yet so difficult to find. Love. TRUE LOVE. That’s the first imagining I want you to do .

Now, how do you think she felt being dragged out in front of all these people with the judgment of stoning already hanging over her head? Now she’s broken, humiliated, ashamed and hopeless (at least I would be).

Then comes this Jesus fellow. He is not handsome, powerful or even known to her, yet He holds her life in His hands. She is aware of that as she listens to the Pharisees continually question Him. She knows whatever this man says will condemn or free her, but freedom isn’t an option for her. At this point, even if she is not stoned she will be seen as nothing more than an adulteress. What kind of life could she possibly lead now? At this point, she has to be thinking stoning would be a blessing rather than living a life filled with continual shame for this sin.

Then Jesus speaks. This whole time He’s been silent while the Pharisees pound at Him for an answer. Can you hear them all silenced as Jesus stands up and finally answers. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Everyone disperses, not all at once, but one by one until it is just Jesus and this woman. Can you imagine what she’s thinking now? Jesus had stooped down after speaking and now when they are alone, He stands up again and speaks directly to her. John 8:11 Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.

WOW. I’m going out on a limb here, but I believe this is the first time she found the love she was looking for. Pure, true and it saw past her sins to the broken, needy woman she was.

Do I believe she changed her lifestyle after that? YES. YES I DO.

For at that very moment she found what she’d been seeking her whole life and she wasn’t rejected for who she was. Jesus gave her the love she’d been looking for her whole life. He gave it freely and without throwing her sins in her face. I truly believe the moment she looked at Jesus and He said, Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more she SAW true love. And that true love, Jesus, changed her life.

This is the True Love I enjoy and continually build up in my relationship with God, through Jesus Christ His son. This is the love, the only true love that could make me whole and it has. Blessed be the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Belinda
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