Painting by Guercino
Yesterday, I
listened to a podcast where a woman in her forties spoke about what happened to
her when she was young. She was a Christian with two small children when her
husband left her for another woman. She went to church after her divorce and
signed up for a Bible Study group at her pastor’s house.
When she
arrived, her pastor opened the door and was not inviting at all. He looked at
her like he didn’t want her there. She went into a room and men and women were
sitting in chairs. She found out, to her chagrin, that it was a Bible Study on
marriage. She sat down near some women and they stood up and moved away from
her. She sat near some men and they did the same thing. No one spoke a word to
her. When people were sharing their stories, they did not let her take a turn
to talk. She said, “I think I will leave now.” No one said anything. She sat in
her car and cried.
I can say,
with all the authority of the Bible, that those people were not acting like
Jesus. They either hadn’t read the Bible or they didn’t care what the Bible
said. They were not acting like Christians.
The woman
joined another church. She offered to teach the little children. A woman said
to her, “Have you repented?” She answered, “Repented of what?” The lady said, “Repented
of your divorce.” She answered, “I have nothing to repent of, my husband left
me and is with another woman.” Still, that church thought she should repent. I
think their reasoning was that she could not have been a good wife or her
husband would never have left her.
I know there
are churches, like the Baptist Church, who elevate marriage above the teachings
of Jesus. They want their women to be submissive and give their husbands sex on
demand. It is the woman’s fault if a man isn’t happy in a marriage. Unbelievable,
wicked and cruel beliefs.
I’ve got to
give kudos to this woman for going to another church where she found love and
acceptance. I gave up going to church many years ago since most of the members
did not think or act like Jesus.
There are
multiple stories in the Gospels of Jesus relating with women of all kinds, good
or bad. The fact he ate with prostitutes was charged against him by the church
leaders of that day. In the Bible, the longest conversation he had was with a
woman who had five husbands and when Jesus met her, she was living with a man.
Jesus did
not hold this against her, in fact as far as we know, she was the first person
he told that he was the Messiah, the Savior of the world. She then ran and told
the people of her city who then went to Jesus to ask him questions. Jesus
stayed there two days and the people believed in him.
When Jesus
saved a woman’s life who had been caught in adultery, he said, “I do not
condemn you, go and sin no more.” Of course he doesn’t want us to sin, for sin
always hurts people. But he doesn’t hold those bad things we have done against
us. Not ever. And when we follow Jesus, we will not want to hurt people and we will
ask him to help us. We want to be like Jesus who always knew what to say to each
person in order to encourage and strengthen them and draw them to the Father who
welcomes them into his family.
Do our works
save us for eternal life? Jesus plainly said no. “This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom God has sent.” The gift of God is eternal life. It is a
gift, not earned. We shouldn’t be discouraged when we sin because we are weak
humans and will always have some sin in our lives until Jesus returns to take
us to heaven. Pau says, “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“The word is near you; it is in your
mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with
your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and
are saved." Romans 10:8-10
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous
standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4
"I know that nothing
good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is
good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want
to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And
if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living
in me that does it.
So,
this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right
there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law
of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So
then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of
sin." Romans 7:18-25
