Newness of Life

(from journal entry 9/8/10) “Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Sometimes God may grant us the grace to be crushed under the weight and unmatched beauty of His love, and when we perceive it, we are torn asunder, but it is not a destructive tearing that shatters us.  There is a tearing that binds, a crushing that builds. Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted. Indeed, it is a crushing that fills us with the sweetness of his love and makes us totally whole. The sinful woman was crushed by that love, but Simon the Pharisee was not. He was too impressed with his own righteousness.  Simon was a religious man. He observed the law and kept all of the religious traditions-but he was blind to the truth that he too was a sinner in need of God's grace. Sitting in the presence of the Messiah who was to take away the sins of the world, his heart was stone cold. And Jesus was wholl