I was caught in adultery.

Naked and ashamed, I cried hopelessly before the Holy Man, robbed of every ounce of dignity I had left circulating in my subconscious. Everyone circled around me and gawked with ragged stones held tightly in their grasp. I wept miserably, mortified that my shameful double-life had been exposed.

"The Law says we should stone such a woman. What do You say?" The Pharisees retorted in disgust. Jesus leaned down and wrote mysteries in the sand with His finger as they spoke.

My eyes stayed fixed on the sand I was kneeling on. Shame overwhelmed me; it cursed me like a lethal disease.

The man they caught me with was like most at first; charming, attractive, and he gave me a thrilling sense of exhilaration every time he showered me with his affection. He was that man. This love of mine is now a burden I carry around with me like a yoke locked around my neck. I had no idea that I had been carelessly flirting with disaster. It didn't take long before my beloved was exalted over my God. He became my god.

My fits of anger and jealousy became a form of worship to my secret, detestable partnership. He loved when I spoke carelessly with my words, disregarding the catastrophic effect they had on the hearts they were directed towards.

I snuck out in the middle of the night to meet with him in mischief. We danced the night away, recklessly abandoning the weight of our convictions until the sun interrupted the moonlight in the wee hours of the morning. Afraid of my secret love affair being exposed, I wished him away. I put a joyful mask over my defeated countenance and held my head up high. I kept this destructive relationship hidden from the rest of humanity, adding to the increasing number of skeletons in my closet.

"No one will know," I calmly tried to convince myself as I attempted rid myself of his corrupted scent radiating from the depths of my soul—but I couldn't; he had already captivated my mind. He was written all over the walls of my insecure heart in attempt to seclude me from the pain of the worldliness I was drenched in.

This love of mine was known by many names.

"Selfishness."
"Conceit."
"Unbelief."
"Impurity."
"Anger."
"Hatred."
"Disobedience."
"Arrogance."
"Bitterness."
"Pride."

I was strongly bonded to these things—mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually—in a bond that only holy blood could break.

The Holy One spoke up in the midst of all the insults being hurled in my direction, "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone."

One by one, the stones began to drop, as did the spiritual chains that had been restraining me from the touch of freedom. The crowd left, and it was only He and I who remained.

He kneeled down to my level and met my gaze. "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"

"No one, Lord."

"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Overcome with His tender kindness, I wept in reverence and awe of who He was. Every ounce of brokenness within me mended back together completely at just the sound of His merciful declaration towards me.

All it took was a moment. The dusty, shame-covered skeletons were cleaned out of my closet, and the Holy Spirit took residence in my heart. My hope was no longer found in the temporal joys of the world, but is now hidden in the vessel of righteousness standing before me. Just like He wrote in the sand only moments ago, Jesus began writing a new identity in my newly restored spiritual DNA. My old nature was assassinated in an instant as pure life was breathed into the new spirit God had reawakened within me.

We were that adulteress. The adulteress was us. We have been bought with a price, the currency being the blood of Jesus that was graciously poured out for us. Lift your eyes up from the ground, and look up to the One who has willingly laid His life down to give you a brand new one instilled with righteousness and intimacy with the Creator of the Universe who loves you deeper beyond human words can comprehend.

Please, stay faithful to the One who loved you first.

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:20‬ ‭

Also read: James 4:4, John 8:1-11