The Tenderness of Jesus.
"Jesus was not only the most loving and kindest man who ever lived but also the tenderest. He loved to forgive. He Himself was without sin. But how His heart ached in sympathy for those who were having a hard time with their sins! One of the most beautiful pictures in all the Bible is that of Jesus and His tenderness towards the sinful woman weeping at His feet (Luke 7:36-50).
The fact that He was tender and forgiving towards that outcast, sinful woman is a kind of guarantee that He will be tender and forgiving toward His church - toward us.
Even if we have not sinned the way the woman had, we have sinned. And to God, sin is sin. And it is no doubt, just as hard - perhaps harder - for God to forgive our respectable, refined, polite, selfish, snobbish sins as it is for Him to forgive the grosser sins of the poor souls who have lost in the battle of life.
It is no small consolation to know that the One before whom we ourselves shall stand to be judged is that kind of person. He was merciful to that broken woman in the thing in which she needed His mercy. We may therefore feel He will be merciful to us in the things in which we need His mercy.
Is this tenderness of Jesus toward the weak and wayward an encouragement to keep on sinning? No. It is the very thing that produces in us to a determination to overcome.
And the closer our walk with Him, paradoxical, as it may seem, the more we realize our sinfulness and our need of His mercy. And the more we realize our sinfulness the less ready we will be to judge others, and the more we will be able to be kind and forgiving ourselves."
By Henry H. Halley; minister and author of "Halley's Bible Handbook" (1874-1965)
The fact that He was tender and forgiving towards that outcast, sinful woman is a kind of guarantee that He will be tender and forgiving toward His church - toward us.
Even if we have not sinned the way the woman had, we have sinned. And to God, sin is sin. And it is no doubt, just as hard - perhaps harder - for God to forgive our respectable, refined, polite, selfish, snobbish sins as it is for Him to forgive the grosser sins of the poor souls who have lost in the battle of life.
It is no small consolation to know that the One before whom we ourselves shall stand to be judged is that kind of person. He was merciful to that broken woman in the thing in which she needed His mercy. We may therefore feel He will be merciful to us in the things in which we need His mercy.
Is this tenderness of Jesus toward the weak and wayward an encouragement to keep on sinning? No. It is the very thing that produces in us to a determination to overcome.
And the closer our walk with Him, paradoxical, as it may seem, the more we realize our sinfulness and our need of His mercy. And the more we realize our sinfulness the less ready we will be to judge others, and the more we will be able to be kind and forgiving ourselves."
By Henry H. Halley; minister and author of "Halley's Bible Handbook" (1874-1965)