People Who Live in Glass Houses

Failure is an opportunity to get up, try again, and correct what went wrong. No one wants to fail, but if you find yourself in that position, know that it doesn’t have to be the end. It does not have to be the end of your story. Draw strength from the savior. Although He may not agree or condone what you did (the Bible tells us what he does and does not condone), He’s on your side and wants you to succeed. That’s why, repeatedly in the Bible, he tells us to choose life, heed his voice, trust him, and follow him. We must do it; do Life His way. Failure happens when we walk away from God and go astray wandering on our own path. That’s when we fail.

While there are those who are standing around with stones ready to throw them at you to stone you to death, Jesus is also there, but he’s not holding stones or anything. He’s not hurling insults or condemnation your way. He has no lecture for you. No, he’s simply standing there full of mercy and grace borne out of his love with words of rebuke for those armed and ready to destroy you. He’s standing there with words of forgiveness and affirmation punctuated with cautionary words of instruction to no longer walk that path that got you in trouble in the first place.

People who live in glass houses don’t throw stones because people who live in glass houses can’t hide their dirt. Their dirty lives stained with failure are on full display for all those bearing stones. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, Jesus said in John 8:7. None of us are without sin and none of us can afford to throw stones, but we all stand in need of forgiveness and at one time or another have lived in glass houses. At the words of Jesus, all the woman’s accusers walked away as they dropped their stones with their sins ever in the forefront of their minds. But the woman…she was free; not just free from the condemnation and a most certain death sentence as required for the sin of adultery under the law. No, she was free to go and sin no more and that is the best kind of freedom…freedom to live unbound by the chains of sinful habits and lifestyles that only the Son of God can give.

~Dr. DeShonda Bailey, Lead Pastor