Stone Uncast: A Short Explanation

"Why don't you tell those Jewish kids they're going to hell?!" a classmate once asked me in high school. Several classmates around me were shocked at this statement, and I myself was taken aback. But then I understood.

Too often, Christians have the reputation that they are superior to everyone else. And in my short time period of life interacting with various people, I have to say that often WE ARE stuck up, arrogant, and self-centered. But the thing I wished that this classmate could see was that we are not perfect because we are Christians; rather, we are Christians because we are imperfect. The whole story of the gospel is that we in and of ourselves cannot make ourselves perfect, though we try. "It is only by grace that we have been saved, and this is not of us--it is the gift of God so that no one can boast!"

One of my favorite passages comes from Hosea 2 where the Lord speaks to Israel as Hosea should speak to his unfaithful wife, Gomer. Israel has been unfaithful to the Lord, and now she is in the dessert. During those days, when one was taken to the desert, and especially when found guilty of committing adultery, it meant that the person was to be stoned to death. Yet the Lord says "I will speak tenderly to her....I will be her God, and she will be my people...I will betroth her to me in righteousness..." And what a picture it is when Jesus is in the same scenario many years later! The rulers and elders of the law try to trap Jesus into stoning the adulteress woman. And his response? Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. Yet even sinless Jesus does not cast the first stone. This amazing picture of grace and forgiveness is my 'story and song' as I am a sinner who greatly needs a Savior!

With this in mind, I write to share honest, Lord-willing humble thoughts about life, Christianity, and the great grace that causes me to rejoice. I am a product of the stone uncast.