As a kid my mother was constantly taking us to church – Sunday morning, Sunday night, and prayer meetings on Wednesday night.

There were always lessons from the scriptures. And I wanted to know what they meant and how they applied to me.

David of Old Testament fame was my hero. I loved the stories about him. I think my teachers did as well. They talked a lot about him.

There were times the stories seemed a little bit strange and I would fixate on those stories.

One such story is found in 1 Samuel 21. 

David was fleeing from King Saul and he didn’t have any food to eat. He came to a place called Nob and asked a priest for 5 loves of bread. 

The priest told him there was no common bread, only fresh bread that had been sanctified that day. The priest said he could have the bread if he and his men had not been with women. I thought that was strange.

David said they had not been with women for three days.

In kid theology I thought it meant you had to be good for three days in a row if you wanted God’s special favor and blessings.

And as a kid endued with lots of energy and mischief, I could not imagine being on my best behavior three days in a row. So, I thought I would probably never receive God’s favor and blessings.

The good news is this story does not teach that God requires a certain timeframe of good behavior before he gives special favors and blessings.

Let me explain!

In the Gospel of John, the 8th chapter we are told about a woman taken in the very act of adultery. 

The men who brought her to Jesus intended to stone her to death. So she is standing before Jesus and can probably still hear another woman’s husband whispering in her ears; still feel his breath on her neck and his unfaithful hands caressing her body. Talk about guilt and shame on full display, this woman was experiencing it. She was expecting to die that day. 

It seems the men who brought her to Jesus had practically orchestrated her death to the best of their ability. These men  also thought Jesus was a heretic, that he didn’t keep the law of Moses and they wanted to put him to death. The woman was just collateral damage.

These religious zealots expected that any answer Jesus gave would also bring about his death. In essence they would kill two birds with one stone.

The zealots demanded an answer from Jesus but he just knelt and wrote on the ground. When they continued asking Jesus to answer, he stood and told the zealots that anyone without sin should cast the first stone. Then He stooped down and wrote on the ground again.

 When he stood up the second time the woman was alone and Jesus asked, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “no one.”

This adulterous woman was standing on the temple mound  surrounded by the strictest legalists and religious zealots. I’m sure she understood the gravity of her situation. 

The last thing she was expecting on this holy hill was some religious teacher who would offer her mercy and grace.

The point is she was taken from the very act of adultery to stand before Jesus and he forever changed her life, then and there. He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

The big lie that Satan wants you to believe is that you must somehow, someway deserve God’s favor. But God wants to grant you his favor and blessing, he wants to save you from sin and death right now.

In the Old Testament God was speaking to the Israelites through the prophet Moses. He said, “This very day I set before you life and death. Choose life.”

God’s choice for us is life. Jesus chose life for this woman who was considered to be the worst of sinners. And he chooses life for you.

But the choice is yours. Will you choose the same thing for yourself that Jesus Christ chooses for you?

Come to Jesus now. Admit your sin and need for a Savior and he will abundantly pardon you. Come now.