Second Chances

Sunday morning, when I probably would've been passing out at service from lack of sleep, I found myself completely awake. My eyes and ears were focused on the guest speaker, Ho Ming Tsui, hanging off of every word he spoke about during his sermon that morning. He talked about the verse of John 8, where the famous line "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." came from. What was so interesting was how he focuses on what might've been the reasons that would lead this woman to commit adultery. What had to have been happening in her life that leads up to that very point where she succumbs to temptation. Suddenly, this story has a very human element to it. Suddenly, it's not so easy to focus on the sin itself and pass judgement. One other thing that was also pointed out is that Jesus doesn't condone nor condemn the woman. He gives a second chance.

Ho Ming also talked about how we are often so ready to "cast stones" at others when we ourselves are far from blameless. It got me really thinking about my thoughts and actions towards others. How I can be so quick to judge others over something very insignificant. Something that came to my mind is that carrying these "stones" is analagous to carrying physicals stones. All they do is add excess baggage and slow you down from achieving your final destination. I really should give these people a second chance. It's who we should try to be.

This week, I had a bit of time to give some thought as to why I've gradually became this and the answer was pretty clear. I've been living for myself as of late. I get dissapointed at myself when I fail to be a good witness or when I stop caring for a little bit. I sometimes wonder how I could even entertain the notion of it, when there's so much that I have been given. In the end, I really think I need to remind myself why I seeked God so much 10 months ago. I need a refresher. I need to realize that these second chances are by the grace of God and not freebies to be expected.