You Have A Friend

Repeatedly throughout the New Testament Jesus is portrayed as the friend and de-ender of the common man. The only people he ever offers any judgmental criticism of are the religious leaders; the priests, Pharisees, and scribes. Jesus defended and forgave a woman caught in the very act of adultery (commonly understood to be a prostitute). (See John 8:3-11) The Pharisees would have stoned her to death. But Jesus caused them to feel the shame of their own private sins when he said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Once they had all left, feeling the sting of their own consciences, Jesus said to the woman, “I do not condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” Jesus did not want to punish the woman for the things she had been doing. Because Jesus really loved that woman, he wanted her to change so that she would have a better life. Jesus tells us, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b) This means Jesus wants you to have a great life filled with love, joy, and peace. In Luke 1:76-79 the father of John the Baptist, speaking as a prophet of God, tells us that Jesus has
come into the world to give us knowledge of God’s mercy to us, lead us out of the darkness of bad lives into the light of great lives, and to lead us in peace. This is a message from God to us that he wants us to know his love, receive his mercy, and have a life without stress and worry. So it does not matter what your past has been like or what your life is like now, Jesus loves you and wants to be your friend. You can call on him and he will come to you and give you his love and his peace.

May God’s grace, the love of Jesus, and the peace of the Spirit be with you.

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