Stepping Stones: Your Ultimate Personal Gift Card

Transformational Tip

When the crowd was about to stone the woman caught in adultery, they asked Jesus; “What do you say we do?” Jesus started to write in the sand and then says; “Anyone here who has never sinned can through the first stone at her.”

The young men look to the old…the old look into their hearts and they are the first to drop their stones. Jesus then asks the women if anyone has judged her guilty…she say “no one, Lord”. Then Jesus says; “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

How do you think God reacts when you fail? Listen carefully; he writes it down. Not in the sand or on paper, but on a cross. His message has three words: “Paid in Full”. He’s given you a prepaid gift card and He paid in full for your penalty. Your response is…. confess your sin and receive His gift.

Hear this, your personal gift card is not permission to sin…that is a whole different topic. Your gift card is freedom from the condemnation our sin should bring us if it weren’t for such a gracious God who is perfectly holy and just, but also perfect love and merciful.

Today, redeem your gift card. How? Confession. We don’t use it enough. We sin a bunch, but confess, what, once a week…day…three times a day? I know we sin more than that. Notice your thoughts and actions. When you miss God’s mark, stop and confess your missing the mark and celebrate your freedom Christ purchased from the slave market of sin. Your renewed and liberated mind is now freer to make Godly decisions than ever before.

Prayer
Dear Father, I come to You with a thankful heart, so thankful You sent Your son to pay the price for my sin, and thankful for Your gift of forgiveness. What a comfort to think of the words; “Paid in Full”. Better yet, thanks for the eternal life, free from sin’s devastation, you offer me. Help me learn from and apply Your wisdom to my everyday life. Please help me to not judge others hearts, let me be Your disciple, not a judge. Help me to forgive others as You have forgiven me. Focus my eyes on my heart and intents, and not those of others. I pray this in the name of the One who paid the ultimate price for my gift card, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 8:12

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:5-9