Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” John 8:1-5 (NLT)

The religious leaders brought this woman to Jesus in humiliating circumstances. To mention the obvious, there was also a man involved in this very act of adultery—yet the guilty man was not brought before Jesus for judgment. They presented her as a sinner before Jesus, but ignored their own sin. He alone was without sin among them. Knowing all things, He had the right to cast the first stone. But He did not.

Jesus sent her away with a call to stop her sin. In a sense, Jesus here modelled the great truth of Romans 8:1: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Self-condemnation is often times felt by the people that go through things which are self-inflicted. Those who for example committed adultery or those battling several addictions. Usually they weigh themselves—and in their eyes—they never measure up much less deserve anything. However one of the things we need to always keep our eyes on is the Love of God.  God loves you beyond your fault. As we battle self-condemnation several voices speak to us: “You are such a failure! Look at what you did!”, “You sinner!” And before we know it, we bounce back into sin.

Denying the issue and dealing with self-condemnation are not the same. Facing what happened, accepting its reality and repenting before God is the road to overcoming it.

Zechariah 3 tells us of Joshua, a high priest, who was before God in filthy garments with the accuser right there too. The amazing thing is that God knew Joshua was in filthy clothes because He tells the angel to take them off BUT what mattered most is not that Joshua had the filthy clothes rather that he was in God’s presence.

Circumstances cannot be denied but the fact that you are in God’s presence, broken before Him, is what matters most. God is a forgiving and loving God. I have seen many people in our Christian circles wanting to justify themselves after sinning by giving themselves “punishments” like fasting for 40 days, stepping down from their positions in church etc. But this is done on their terms and direction instead of God’s terms.  The truth is we cannot buy God’s forgiveness.

I have also seen a category of people who refuse to forgive themselves no matter how much they have been told that God has forgiven them. We need to understand that one of the biggest manifestation of pride is for God to forgive you and you refuse to forgive yourself. If God—who is most offended when we sin—forgives and receives us back then we ought to accept his forgiveness. Imagine if Joshua the high priest had refused the white garment, it would offend God.

One may ask, “How then do I know that God has forgiven me?” well the answer is: simply believe! God in his character cannot despise a broken heart. Christ’s arms are open to anyone who has been convicted of sin and wants to return home. He has never chased anyone away. Just imagine, would God say to anyone “I am still angry with you, I will forgive you later!” if they came with an open and broken heart?

You need to understand that the Spirit does not convict us to die rather He convicts us so we may return to Him. He longs to forgive us! So come to Him the way you are and accept that you are forgiven because you are a child of God and He loves you.  Remember when Christ met sinners, He was overcome by compassion for them and not Judgment. You too have a place in His heart. He longs to wash your sins away by His blood.