Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
John 8:10-11, NIV
John 8 is the story of the adulterous woman being brought to Jesus by teachers of the law for condemnation. Jesus says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her.” The teachers of the law were accusing her to Jesus, and in part, rightfully so… She did sin, after all…
Now, I’m not going to spend the length of this post trying to exegete the meaning of this text or go into all the context and cultural background in order to understand the full meaning of the story. Rather, I’m going to jump to how God communicated a truth to me in my present-day experiences.
(Side Note: I find myself hesitating to write this because I do not want to be accused of mishandling the text or misapplying scripture by NOT going into all the details + original meaning of the text; However, God did use this story as a means to communicate a truth, whether this-story directly related or not, and it was helpful for my present-day experiences.)
And what are my present-day experiences?
The accusations of my mind.
Going back to the story, here is Jesus listening to these accusations of the woman and says, “If you don’t have sin, then stone her.” One by one they leave. They leave. They don’t just remain there and continue to accuse her. Realizing that their goal in accusation would not be achieved (that is, the goal of essentially death), they found no more purpose to remain. After they left, Jesus asked, “Has no one condemned you?” She replies, “No one, sir.”
Not one was found guiltless. And the only one who was guiltless (i.e. Jesus) says, “I don’t condemn you either.” But instead of leaving, he further says, “Go and leave your life of sin.”
I’m listening to this story unfold (via audio Bible) and think, “Gee, I live under constant accusations from my thoughts… But are my thoughts sinless? Do they actually have the authority to condemn?”
I then had this image come to mind– the same one I had a few weeks ago when I first realized how many accusing thoughts I play in the background of my mind– a picture of Jesus and I together, him sitting in front of me and then a funnel-like horn/speaker behind me, sounding all of the accusing voices such as:
“You aren’t doing enough.”
“You’ll never measure up.”
“You are capable of being perfect yet you keep failing… What’s wrong with you?”
“No matter how hard you try, there’s always more you need to be doing.”
“Just look at your mental life– you are messed up.”
“You are always on the side of error.”
“You need to be better.”
So here I am in this image, with Jesus in front of me and these voices behind me, and it’s as though Jesus says, “Let the sinless voice condemn you.”
I turn to the voices, grab each one (one at a time), and say to it, “Are you without sin that you have the authority to condemn me?”
Silence.
One by one they shut up, go away, and don’t return.
After I rebuke my thoughts/voices, I turn back to Jesus. He says, “Has no one condemned you?” I say, “Not one.” He says, “Neither do I. But go and sin no more.”
I’ve often kept these accusing voices as a safeguard in the background to make sure I don’t forget my sin. I need to make sure I remember my shortcomings so that I don’t fall into the thinking that I’m better-than, and then find myself in la-la land where I’m puffed up with pride in thinking that I’m perfect. But that in itself is a form of pride; it is me trying to handle my own sin. It is me not trusting Jesus to take care of my sin.
The beauty of Jesus’s voice is that it is non-accusatory yet it doesn’t leave you where you are.
He doesn’t say, “I don’t condemn you so forget the whole matter and keep on living as you were.” Rather, it’s as though he says:
“I’ve freed you from condemnation, freed you from the accusations, so now you can live a life turned away from sin. It’s not as though you were sinless and the accusations were false; it’s the fact that the accusations were oppressing you, making you its slave. So now, you are free. Go and sin no more, strengthened by freedom and love instead of condemnation and fear.”
Jesus doesn’t overlook sin; He just knows how to handle it.
I can’t handle my sin on my own– I get over-burdened. Jesus can. And I can trust him with that.
While I’m a work in progress, I put this thought-rebuking technique into practice as often as I’m able.
Are my thoughts sinless? No? Then leave. Turn to Jesus, receive his message of truth, live in freedom, and go and sin no more.
Write with a Purpose 
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