{"id":5853,"date":"2022-05-14T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=5853"},"modified":"2022-04-21T08:51:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:51:49","slug":"stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2022\/05\/14\/stone\/","title":{"rendered":"STONE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2 minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Daily Reading:<\/strong> 1 Samuel 15:1-16:23 ESV<\/a>, John 8:1-20 ESV<\/a>, Psalm 110:1-7 ESV<\/a>, Proverbs 15:8-10 ESV<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily Verse: <\/strong>\u201cAnd as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, \u201cLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone<\/em> at her.\u201d (John 8:7 ESV<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LITHOS (3037): <\/strong>\u201cIs used literally of the \u201cstones of the ground.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drop the rock.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the self-righteous crowd dragged the naked, adulterous woman in front of Jesus, His response made me love Him.  I didn\u2019t get dragged down public streets, but I have sinned like her.  One cringe-worthy instance in my twenties felt metaphorically the same.  Tongues wagged at my inappropriate relationship, making me feel less than worthy of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Jesus knew what to do.  Instead of condemning the woman, He protected her from the murderous crowd.  Bending, Jesus began to write in the dirt, then standing, He told the people, those without sin cast the first stone.  Dropping back down to the earth, Jesus continued to write.  One by one, everyone left.  Jesus, alone with the woman, forgives her, telling her to go and sin no more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change your behavior.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the woman to \u201csin no more,\u201d she must change her behavior.  Jesus wants us to live our lives to the fullest, meaning He doesn\u2019t want us to harm ourselves.  When we do things like the adulterous woman did, we cause ourselves harm.  To stop the pain, we must stop the behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my situation, I ended the relationship.  An unmarried woman, I caused myself a mountain of pain getting involved with the wrong man.  To \u201csin no more\u201d meant I needed to remove myself from the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the man in today\u2019s story, who slithered away, the person I knew didn\u2019t.  He stalked me, causing me to go into hiding\u2014a very dark period of my life I regret deeply and one of my greatest lessons.  Changing my behavior and following Jesus\u2019s teachings healed my heart over time, leading me to new life in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever sins lie in your past, Jesus says the same thing to you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Jesus said,\u00a0\u201cNeither do I condemn you; go, and from now on\u00a0sin no more.\u201d (John 8:11 ESV<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at your life and identify any self-destructive behavior, then invite Jesus into it.  Let Christ\u2019s grace and mercy help you make different choices, leading to a fuller life in Him.  Jesus doesn\u2019t condemn; He forgives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible<\/em>. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em> (p. 151) Thomas Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Check out my new release on Amazon<\/a>. Learn how I used prayer to control my emotions and develop healthier relationships in my life. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 minute read. Daily Reading: 1 Samuel 15:1-16:23 ESV, John 8:1-20 ESV, Psalm 110:1-7 ESV, Proverbs 15:8-10 ESV Daily Verse: \u201cAnd as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, \u201cLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d (John 8:7 ESV) LITHOS (3037): \u201cIs used… Continue reading STONE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5853"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5856,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5853\/revisions\/5856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}