Do you remember the Whitney Houston song, "I have nothing" from the early 90s? The lyrics go on to say that she has nothing if she doesn't have "you," that "you" being Kevin Costner in the movie The Bodyguard. That song could've been my mantra growing up in my tween and young adult years, except I would have changed it to "I am nothing, if I don't have you." My value began and ended with my relationships. I had a low self esteem, and desired so much to be accepted and loved, and to keep with the song theme, I was "looking for love in all the wrong places." I had no personal boundaries, there was anything I wouldn't do for the attention of the right person, so I decided whatever someone needed me to be, I could do it. And when I was rejected, yet again, I decided I must be that girl. Sure, I’ll be the messed up girl. The addicted one. The one searching the darkest places trying to find some sort of sense of belonging, or a person to fill that void. Anything over this emptiness. Anything away from the aching in my heart.
This is who I was. And I was set on making sure everyone around me knew it.
And they did. They expected it.
In the book of John, there is this woman who was caught in the most compromising situation: an adulterous affair. This most likely wasn’t her first offense, and she was caught mid-act. The men who had caught her were these religious leaders. Talk about being hurt by the church. She was merely a pawn in their plight to catch Jesus in something they could trap Him with. Adultery was punishable by death by the law. Would Jesus order her stoning? However, without breaking the law or condemning her to death, He dissolved her impromptu court case, and the crowd dissipated, leaving her in the presence of her very real savior.
John 8:10-11: Jesus straightened up and asked her, “woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir.” She answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus didn’t see her as an adulterer. He didn’t condemn her to a life of being stuck in that lifestyle. He didn’t ask her if she was sorry or to admit her guilt. He already knew. What He did do was call her out of her reputation. He let her know she was worth more, and that she could have more.
I needed someone to call me out of my lifestyle. I needed to hear that someone thought more of me than my current circumstances. I think that’s a lot of us. We may believe in our past actions are part of who we are but God wants you to know your worth is not determined by the sum of your mistakes. Even if you are still struggling in them, there is always the invitation to leave that life. He does not condemn you to a life of slavery or shame. Not to your past. Not to your addictions. Not to your brokenness. There are those of us that need to know right now that we are more than what we have become. Jesus saw it that day in that woman, and He saw it in me the day He gave me my son Jackson, and He sees it in you, in your doubts, in your failures, in your mistakes, in your insecurities.
He’s not giving you up. He’s calling you up.
