A friend shared a note with me (Put that Stone Down) about the woman caught in adultery, just recently.
John 8 1-11
As I read it, I couldn’t help but think how true some of the comments were.
One bit that stuck out to me was the question of, “How many people have we driven out of the church by pelting them with stones when we should have brought them to the feet of Jesus?”
I know that we don’t literally throw stones at people, but we can throw stones with what we say and do.
It’s with these stones that we could be driving people away with.
HURT. You hurt me by doing…..
OFFENSE. You offended me by…..
JUDGEMENT. How could you…… or How dare you……
The above are only three such stones, which we could reach for. I dare say there are many more.
The question I’m left with is…
When people do wrong to us, how then will we respond to them?
Will we be reaching to pick up the stones to throw at them or will we be able to bring the situation to Jesus’s feet?
Will we want to seek his wisdom or will we just want to reach out for all those stones, waiting to be picked up? (Which the enemy happily places at our feet.)
When someone does something wrong to us then we can tend to want to pick them stones up as quickly as we possibly can and hurl away with them.
Can we do better Though?
Instead can we try to come to Father and allow him to deal with the situation?
Jude 1:9 comes to mind.
“But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!'”
So, if the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil left them stones on the ground and called on the Lord instead, then can we do likewise?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying, don’t deal with an issue or problem.
If something is wrong, then it needs to be dealt with.
If there is an injustice, then that needs to be dealt with.
The question is…
Will we deal with it in a way that pleases Father?
Will we bring it to His feet, for His guidance and help?
If you think that bringing it to Father is, letting the offender off lightly, then have a read of Psalm 10.
Verse 15 makes me smile.
“Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would otherwise not be found out.”
The writer is not saying “I’ll break the arm of the wicked man” (one of the stones I didn’t mention) but instead is calling on God to intervene in the situation, and is calling on God to measure out His Justice.
Again, can we do likewise?
Can we call Father to the party instead of trying to deal with it all on our own?
Calling on Father instead of reaching for the stones is not easy, but it is the better choice.
Father,
Help us to not reach for the stones.
Help us to look to You instead.
Help us to look to You for our guidance and help.
Thank you that You are there for us.
Amen.
Wannabe Christian Doorman 