Go now and leave your life of sin.
—John 8:11
There, for all to see, was the photo of a high-profile politician caught in a prostitution sting. How embarrassing!
Another photo pictured a notorious sleazebag, being arrested for a Ponzi scam. How embarrassing!
Have you ever been pulled to the side of the road for a traffic infraction—flashing lights behind you? You won’t go to jail—but how embarrassing!
The woman was dragged into the presence of Jesus, where scandalmongers mercilessly trumpeted her adulterous life. How embarrassing! But Jesus dispatched the accusers with one sentence: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”—then said to the woman: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
One of those two sentences bull’s-eyes each of us. If the latter, it should bring repentance, relief, and rejoicing.
Never too bad to change.