The Sand
“This
they said, testing Him, that they might have
something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped
down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as
though He did not hear. So when they continued
asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He
who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone
at her first.’ And
again He stooped down and wrote on the ground”
(John 8:6-8).
At a men’s
retreat a couple of weeks ago, one of the pastors
confessed publicly that, up until six years ago, he
had been "hooked" on pornography for thirty-five
years, progressing from pornographic magazines and
books to the internet. He gave permission to tell
what happened, but his name will not be mentioned.
He managed to keep his activities from EVERYONE for
all of those thirty-five years, until he left
something on his computer that his wife found; first
to her shock, and then to his.
He’s not alone.
A year or so ago, my wife and I attended a Pastors
and Pastor’s Wives weekend retreat and seminar, in
Palm Springs, California, offered by “Focus
on the Family.” They gave us several books,
and lots of interesting statistical information,
including the results of polls taken by Focus on the
Family over the years. I came away from that seminar
with a new understanding of the isolation
experienced by Pastors and their wives. Pastors are
overworked, underpaid, and have little time for
their families.
The book, “Pastors
at Greater Risk,” by H. B. London, Jr., was
given to us at that seminar, and Chapter Ten starts
out with a page called “Risk
Factors” experienced by lonely pastors. They
took surveys of hundreds of pastors, and from the
replies received; found that twenty percent of them
are willing to admit “they
view pornography at least once a month.”
That’s two out of every ten – an amazing one out of
five. “Fifty-one percent”
of pastors view “Internet
pornography as a possible temptation for them,”
and “thirty-seven percent
admit that it’s a current struggle.” It
continued: "Fifty-three
percent" of pastors have “visited
a sexually-explicit website…
a few times in the past year.”
As stated,
pastors and their wives, just like everybody else
these days, are lonely, isolated people who also
happen to be mere human beings. The need for comfort
takes many forms and the pastor who admitted his
thirty-five year struggle, is not alone.
I’ve been
amazed for years at the surprises behind the
bland-appearing faces around us. And the problems
are not just with clergy. It’s astonishing to learn
about the situations that people fall into, and it’s
sad that lives are ruined, careers smashed and
innocent children are damaged by the bizarre, hidden
behavior of their parents. This is a sick race and
the reality behind public faces is worse than you or
I know. – What is hidden in YOUR life?
At the moment
of our verses for today, Jesus was surrounded by the
“pillars” of His community, plus one woman. The men
were of unquestioned reputation; the upper-class
“elite” of that society. They wore the right clothes
and lived in perfect homes. Others modeled
themselves after them, thinking, “If only I could be
like – them!”
Please note
that when Jesus bent over to write with His finger
in the ground, the sand, He was not making out a
grocery list. He was likely writing about – them! He
wrote about those who stood around Him; men who were
hoping to turn the situation into a setting where
they could accuse Jesus, and use the stones reserved
for the woman – on Him! But those who attack our
Lord will find that THEIR lives are the ones that
come into question.
Yes, under the
Law, the adulteress was to be “put
to death” (Leviticus 20:10), but so was the
adulterer! The verse in Leviticus reads this way: “The
MAN who commits adultery with another man’s wife,
the adulterer AND the adulteress, shall surely be
put to death.” They knew who the man was, and
it may well have been that one of the men who stood
around Jesus and the woman at that moment – was the
man! Jesus SAW their hypocrisy. He knew they were
deliberately disobeying the Law of God, while
pretending to honor it. He saw them for what they
were, just as He sees you and me.
God KNOWS us.
If you knew the truth about the men and women who
surround you every day, you wouldn’t be able to
stand it! At first you might laugh, but then you
would begin to weep. Only God can bear our sins, and
when we find in Scripture that Jesus Christ “bore
our sins in His own body on the tree” (1
Peter 2:24), we discover that He is God. To even
bear our OWN sin is impossible. If we somehow were
able to truly know ourselves and those around us, we
would actually go insane from what might be called
“negative-information overload!” But God bore our
sins – all of them!
Jesus knows us
– utterly. When He bent over to write in the sand,
He was writing the sins of humanity. He wrote “adulterer,”
and looked up into the eyes of one or more of the
men. He wrote “false-weights,”
and looked into the eyes of a shopkeeper. The word “thief”
was inscribed, as He looked at still more. “Liar”
was emblazoned for them all. As He looks into your
eyes, your heart, right this minute; what is He
writing about you? God will write in the “sand,” the
“ground” of your life, in the presence of many
witnesses, the exact truth about you. Sins will not
remain hidden, for God will show them for all to
see.
John, who
walked with Jesus for three years, said: “If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.” He continued, “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). When you
confess your sins to the Lord, the promise is that
you will be forgiven and He will make you clean,
inside and out. As Jesus said to the woman caught in
adultery: “Neither do I
condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
We were given a
Lenten publication called, “Seek
God for the City 2006,” containing daily
devotions which my wife and I have been sharing.
Here’s a recent prayer in “Seek
God” – “Lord Jesus, we
believe You are just as willing to cleanse us from
the pollution of sin as You were to heal people from
leprosy. Many… even
many Christians, have been deeply affected by sin.
We cannot wash it away by our resolve and good
intentions. We have become as desperate as someone
doomed with incurable disease. Only You can cleanse
us from the sin which sickens us. We come near…
You can make us clean.”
Let’s pray:
Lord, I
confess my sin. Please forgive me and make me clean.
Heal and restore me. Fill me with Your Spirit and
let me know peace with God. In Jesus Name. Amen.
