"I'll have a side of cranberry sauce with some rat dressing please..."

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8:10-11)

Jesus had such a way with people! His method of teaching surpasses any teacher I ever had. His forgiveness of us goes beyond the scope of understanding. Here was a woman, caught in adultery and was going to die at the hands of man. After all, it was the law.

Jesus taught us that we are to forgive all things (not just the little ones or the ones that we think aren't that bad) - we are all sinners, we all have gone against the laws of God and the laws of man. When Jesus told her to go and sin no more, he gave her a hall pass. She would continue to sin (we all do) but at that point he wiped her slate clean. When Peter asked "how many times" do we forgive - Jesus replied "seventy times seven", which if my math is correct, that would be 490! I'm sure he didn't mean that number specifically, but even at that, its a lot of forgiving!!!

When we come to know the love of Jesus, we want to follow his way, we want to walk as he would have us walk. Forgiveness is ours for the asking. If we try and fail, we know that we can start over again. But what if we fail to try? What if we just give up and say "forget it, it's too hard, I can't do it" and just continue on in our sinful ways?

God does not expect us to be perfect, he expects us to do our best, to keep going to him for strength and courage and love! He has an unlimited supply and wants to share it with all of us! All we have to do is ask! Confess your sins to him and let him wipe your slate clean today - be washed in the blood of Jesus and the salvation that is promised because of it! Give glory to him in all you do and ask that he protect you and guide you as you journey through life. His love and forgiveness are eternal! He's proven that! Jesus' death and resurrection is the ultimate sacrifice of forgiveness. We all sin. Let's try to be more forgiving of others and remember that unlike those whose sins were written in the sand, ours are written in his blood!