Now what do you say?

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8

(emphasis added)

It doesn't matter what the law says, what other Christians say, what others think or act around you; all that matters is what Jesus says. "Now what do you say?" As John 3:17 says, Christ wasn't sent into the World to condemn the world. But instead, to bring conviction. I hope the life of Christ brings conviction into your hearts today. Why? Because condemnation pushes us further from God, while conviction pulles us closer. Are you living a life of conviction?

Jesus, give me the strength to see others as you do. Not to condemn them, but to love them. To confront them in their sin and bring conviction. Help me to see people through your eyes. I pray that I would live a life holy and pleasing to you, one that would draw those around me closer to you. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Our Gift, not a Goal

From my hero in the Faith, Reinhard Bonnke:

The Holy Spirit is a Gift, not a Goal!

Living in the Spirit does not mean a life of labour and perfectionism, inventing ways of self-denial to gain credit with God. Self-denial may be necessary in our service for God, but sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice is not a means of grace. That has been the error of all ascetics. Neither are we supposed to suggest that we have to struggle to be people of the Spirit, worrying about it daily. Perhaps we want to be known as a man of prayer or a woman of the Spirit. That is Pharisaic. Christ said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30). He would know, for as a carpenter he once made yokes. His yokes did not chafe oxen, nor do they chafe us. And most people can cope with that.It is absurd to be anxiously watching every moment exhausting ourselves trying to be Spirit-filled. The promise is that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10). Living in the Spirit we walk with God with a confident bearing, live more easily, and pray more easily. “Keep in step with the Spirit” is the advice found in Galatians 5:25. Remember, the Holy Spirit is a gift, not a goal.

i-Heart Revolution

As you read this blog...

...people in Uganda are dying from famine.

A Karimojong girl enjoys a roasted head of a chicken while at Kikaramoja zone at Masese III village in Jinja district on Tuesday.

Karimojong women waiting for rice donations.

In the Ugandan newspapers today:

Death as famine ravages Uganda

In an interview yesterday, the district Speaker of Amuria, Mr Robert Adiama, said, “There’s famine because of several factors like the drought spell which has hit the district. We actually need food urgently.”

Mr Adiama said the famine has reached a level where people cannot afford three meals a day. “What we need now are ways of helping these people to survive and how they can access seeds for planting,” he said.

Even in cases where the food is available, he added, it has become very expensive for the people to afford. “For example a basin of cassava which was costing between Shs2500 and Shs5000 is now Shs10,000. Not many people can afford,” Mr Adiama said.

The famine is partly a result of the poverty already biting a large part of the population, with 57 per cent saying in a late 2008 opinion poll commissioned by Afrobarometer that they had gone without food at one point in the last year and 55 per cent saying they had gone without water – up from 49 per cent in 2005.
(Daily Monitor)


What are you doing with your life?
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.'"