And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.  – John 8:8

In the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus stoops down a couple of times.  Most people speculate on what He wrote in the ground.  I like to think about why He did it.  There was a humiliated, possibly completely naked woman basically awaiting execution. All these religious people were talking down on her because she was literally and figuratively beneath them. I think Jesus stooped down to meet her gaze.  He met her right where she was.  Our Lord and Savior stooped down to her level to comfort her before rising above His religious enemies to rescue her.

If you think about it, for around 4,000 years mankind had the written Words of God.  All the recorded miracles and the Ten Commandments produced were professional rule followers along with people who felt like they had no chance of actually knowing God.  Therefore, God Himself stooped down to our level.  He came as a man and got as filthy as a man could get.  He received the sins of the world.  I wonder if any angel in Heaven warned Him . . . “You better not go down there, they are bad people who will bring you down!”

I say all that to say this:  Last night, I went to a killer concert.  Lacey Sturm is the former lead singer for Flyleaf.  She was in Atlanta and I just jumped at the chance to see her live.  Here’s the thing:  She has a dark, dark past.  She wrote and played dark music.  She wrote dark poetry and drew dark pictures. She unashamedly speaks of that past.  She also unashamedly speaks of how the Great God met her right where she was and turned her entire life around.

Now that she is clean and forgiven, what is she supposed to do?  Is she supposed to stay away from the group that she now sees is just like she was?  Should she “separate herself” from all that evil?  Should she now just go to church, hang out only with church people, and then rejoice in the fact that she is now going to heaven?  The rest of those people can just go to hell where they deserve to go, right?

Wrong!

She needs to do exactly what she is doing . . . imitating Jesus.  She is going into bars where people are drowning sorrows in alcohol, people are self-harming, and people are looking for hope and don’t even realize it.  She goes in and tells them that Jesus was nothing like she thought He was.  She tells them that the Bible is an unbelievably awesome book that can change our lives if we will let it.  Some people walk out because they don’t want to hear it. Others listen and receive great hope.

All this comes at a great price to her.  Religious people who do nothing to reach lost people judge her. They don’t like the loudness of the music, and certainly don’t like the way she screams into the microphone.  She simply looks too much like the world and she’s supposed to be separate from the world, right?

Wrong!

She is to be like Jesus until she draws her last breath.  She is to stoop down and reach those who need God the most.  Remember, it is the sick that need a doctor, not the healthy.

For the love of God, point someone who needs Him desperately to Him today. Some religious folks might judge you, but I’d rather be judged in this way than on the day I stand before Him have Him ask me, “Why did you keep so great a salvation to yourself?

Take a moment to read Luke chapter 16 starting with verse 19.  All that rich man did to go to hell was not help Lazarus.  The rich man did not help Lazarus simply because he thought Lazarus was beneath him. The rich man was too good to stoop down to the level of Lazarus.

Do you think any other human, and I mean any other human is worth less than you?

If your honest answer is “yes,” you really need to fix that before it is too late . . . for you and the ones you know who are far from Him.