Many times we’ve said things to people and caused ourselves to have a bad reputation and mislead people in a wrong direction or been a bad example to others and also many times we’ve made mistakes and said things that we’ve regretted. We’ve given out too much personal information and in the end it has caused us to be taken advantage of or to be hurt and to have regret, and sometimes when we’re corrected for our mistakes we take it very seriously to heart and it hinders us, but praise God He can make beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, and He can take our mistakes and make it a blessing for someone else.
There is someone in the Bible who had a very good reason to be ashamed, and the very fact that she was written about in the Bible, says a great deal about Jesus and His nature, and how much He loves and He cares for people. There is actually several examples of people in the Bible that God has used to show us the love of Christ.
Luke 8:
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him[f] said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”[g]
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
This was a very courageous thing for her to do. It could have been very humiliating for her, but she put her reputation at stake and just said boldly that she was “healed”.
This was a very personal thing for her, and something other people would have considered to be too much information. But Jesus appreciated the fact that she was willing to lay down her pride and confess her healing. It says that He was in a throng of people and they would have probably thought, “Who is this woman? Why is she coming here to confess her healing.” This woman risked her reputation to proclaim her healing before all. She was very bold and she didn’t care what anybody else thought.
There is another woman who comes to mind,
John 8
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught[b] in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded[c] us that such should be stoned.[d] But what do You say?”[e] 6 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.[f]
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up[g] and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience,[h] went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her,[i] “Woman, where are those accusers of yours?[j] Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and[k] sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
This woman had every right to be ashamed, and she was caught in sin, but instead of pointing out that sin, He restored her with a spirit of gentleness, and He did not condemn her for her sin. She was caught in adultery, which is not a good thing, but He forgave her of all the iniquity and He restored her sense of love and belonging.
Part of the part of the sin problem from the garden of Eden is that we are left with a spirit of condemnation because we don’t go before God realizing that He can forgive us of our sin, and that He loves us.
Genesis 3
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat.”
Why would we hide from God who loves us so much? Why would we hide from someone who showers us with His love? Why would we hide from God? Because of guilt. They felt guilty and condemned. We are in a place where are desperately seeking the way back to God, and the Presence of the Holy Spirit and the Garden.
We need to come closer to the Garden, but we have become so overwhelmed by the guilt that comes from the accuser. It’s important to study the Word of God, and to follow the Lord’s leading. Jesus reacts to us in a different way then we expect. Even when He rebukes He gives something good followed with something that needs improvement, but then He always closes off with the good as to not leave someone left with discouragement but to give them a sense of hope and faith.
The faith of Christianity comes by believing in Christ as the Savior and it comes through personal revelation and not by man. No one can teach you Christ, it comes through personal revelation and a choice to accept Christ, even though He has known the ones He is going to select to follow Him because He knows us so intimately.
There is some beckoning in the soul, to fill the void so empty in our hearts and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died to save us and to bring us the Holy Spirit to show us how to live the Christian life. He wants to restore our life, purpose and identity. He wasn’t just a great Teacher. He is the Author and Creator of our souls, and the Light of the world. There are people in these last days that are bent on evil an destruction and taking advantage of people. But our God is a God of justice, fairness, and equity among all people. He takes all things into consideration before making a decision and when He makes a decision it is always right. When we pay close attention we learn to feed off the Master.
Sometimes people, don’t know how to resolve the situation in your life and your problem, they take it out on you by making you feel guilty but we can see that Jesus was not like that and we can see that in the case of the woman caught in adultery.
So even though we’re a fellowship built upon Pastors, Teachers, Preachers, Evangelists, and the rest of the five fold ministry for us to grow we need to be mature enough to realize that the things we have prayed about over and over and over again that instead of seeking after their counsel, the best thing to do is to wait and to seek God, and pray about it, and to thank God for another. One way or another you’ll learn. Jesus is the best teacher, and He is the only one who can help you grow the best and when you completely put your trust in Him then you will be able to receive the discernment to what applies to you and what doesn’t apply to you because you are unique. No two people are the same, and each of them have their unique flavor. So the best person to advise you is Jesus and that is the voice you should listen to. Otherwise you end up listening to conflicting messages. It takes wisdom to know what people are like. Once you get to know what a person is like, and how they work, and what your relationship dynamic is then you will be able to discern that if “I go to this person this way, this is how they will react.”
Jesus was the same way with people. He knew that Peter would react differently than John and James. He also reacted differently around women then men. He knew and knows how to rebuke people and how to comfort them. He knows us so intimately. That’s what the Holy Spirit is there for to teach us how Jesus will be able to relate to us. He knew us before we were created in our mother’s womb. He knew everything about us and He knew what we would be going through, so there is no reason to be ashamed with Jesus, but when it comes to other people there are some things that you can tell them, and some things you can’t tell them. Many times too often we have fallen into traps where we’ve done or said some things we’ve regretted because we just didn’t have the wisdom, and Jesus says foolishness is sin, but the nature of Jesus says He will examine our hearts and see what will get us in trouble. Sometimes the painful experiences will shape us into who God will want us to be, and we know that God protects us and has our very life in our hands. Maybe God can see things we can’t and how it has affected us. Maybe there is something that affects someone else somewhere and that is what you should and shouldn’t do. There are often mistakes and when you learn from them you learn from your mistakes. We cause a lot of damage by making foolish choices and hurting innocent people. We pay the consequences for actions even the ones done in ignorance, but thank God He is faithful to forgive us.
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