Today’s Reading: John 8:9 (NIV)
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
Good day!
Yesterday, I had a close encounter with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. I spent a couple of hours inside a tiny tube, hearing nothing except the thumping and swishing noises it made as the laser beams looked inside my thick skull. As I prepared for the test, I left my husband behind in the waiting room and the receptionist at the front desk, and then it was just the MRI tech and me, in what seemed to be a very sterile and sound-proof environment. I was strapped onto a table, my head placed in a secure and uncomfortable helmet. Within a few short seconds, I was nose to nose inside the tube with a high-powered laser beam, designed to explore my innermost being. I will admit it was just a little too close for personal comfort, and as I lay there, I wondered if the next two hours would somehow change the course of my life.
The anxiety in knowing that you have been overexposed must have terrified the woman when she knelt before Jesus. Every sin she had ever committed was being held up to public scrutiny. The community where she lived wanted her out of there; she had not kept the law and therefore, deserved to die. She just wanted to get it over with, hoping someone would throw the heaviest stone first so that her torment might end quickly. But the crowd could not resist heaping a little extra humiliation upon her head. No one anticipated how the Lord might react. He is the only One who could see clean through our physical frames and into the depths of our souls. As He began to examine her sick and wounded heart with His piercing, loving eyes, the people began to fall away, one by one. The older ones left first, and eventually, there was no one left but the woman and her soul-searching, laser beam of light.
I will never forget the two words I heard as I allowed my body to be drawn into the magnetic resonance imaging tube. Jesus softly said, “Come here.” I could feel His hands, holding me close, comforting my anxious heart. I was able to relax and pray, and even go to sleep amid the banging noises surrounding me. I knew I was being over-exposed. When everyone else had left, the Only One I really needed was right there with me, looking even deeper into the depths of my soul.
If you’ve ever had a close encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, you know He sees into the depths of your soul. Christ takes the sins that separate me from a perfect and holy Father, exposing them for what they truly are. With His healing power, Jesus carries my sin straight to the cross, so that I might be fully healed once and for all. I have received a brand new life through salvation by grace. The old is forever gone and the new is now my happily ever after.
I don’t know what that MRI may reveal, but I do know that my Jesus, who sees me, exposes me, and heals me day by day, is the only One I need for this life and in the new world to come. We all need to experience a close encounter with the soul-searching, laser beam of the Lord. Let Him see through that hard shell and into your heart of hearts, where He can wash away your sin, heal your broken spirit, and free you for new life today.
Won’t you trust Jesus enough to invite Him into your life right now?
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Faith UMC -
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