HOW TO BE HEALED FROM SIN (Back to Sunday School Series)

"Excuse me," I step to one side of the hospital bed.

"Oh, excuse me," I step to the other.

"I'm so sorry," I say again, retreating to the furthest corner.

No matter how big the room, I always feel out of place.

So, I shrug and condemn myself beside the hazardous waste bin. "I'm awkward," I confess, embarrassed before the competent medical staff.

But Grace, the nurse on duty, is in the healing business." Honey, you're fine. I'll work around you and tell you if you should move."

Likewise, sin can lead God's children into uncomfortable spots. We try to move and change until we finally conclude that we're born to stay where we are.

We need God's grace to direct us to a healthy place so others can be healed and we can all head toward Home.

In John, chapter 8, a woman was caught in the act of adultery, dragged from her lover's bed by religious leaders, and brought before Jesus.

Talk about awkwardness.

Yet Jesus, the Great Physician, wasn't uneasy with the situation. His job was to bring soul-sick people back to life. Jesus is in the healing business.

As the woman's accusers babbled on, Jesus spoke without a word.

Verse six says:

" Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger."

Scholars have speculated about what Jesus wrote in the dirt that day, but I'm more fascinated with His body language.

The Holy One, who carried the heartbeat of the Heavenly Father, didn't tower over the guilty with an accusing finger.

Instead, He hovered over the dust from which we were all made and moved a loving hand through it. Perhaps Jesus was remembering how frail we are and how easily prone we are to make a mess.

Satan, your accuser, wants you condemned and thrown out of God's throne room forever.

But Jesus tenderly reaches into your shame and retraces the image you were created in, the image of His Heavenly Father.

Like the accused woman who stood guilty before Jesus, our confessed sins are forgiven when laid at His feet.

"Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'

"No one, sir," she said.

"Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared." (v9-11)

And with a gracious hand, Jesus sets us free so we can confidently and gratefully live out the rest of our days for Him.

"Go now and leave your life of sin." (v11)