Don’t Shoot The Wounded

“Jesus straightened up and asked her ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’” (John 8:10)

There is a song that I used to listen to years ago called Don’t shoot the Wounded. One line in that song says “Don’t shoot the wounded, some day you might be one.”

Those words cannot be any more real than to someone who struggles with an “invisible illness”. I am sure many of us can attest to many times having sideways glances or off-hand remarks being made due to our seemingly “hypochondriacally” made statements of poor health and fatigue for “no apparent reason” when we “look so good.”

Yet even in our “illness” do we stick up for the underdog or the brother/sister caught in a moment of weakness, do we stand by them and help them through? Or do we point the finger and then walk away?

Jesus knows how weak we are, how weak we can be. He knows how easy it is for us to fail and how we react to our own failure or that of others. Jesus gives us a wonderful example here of knowing what happened yet protecting and encouraging the weak person. Their failure becomes a lesson in forgiveness, responsibility, accountability and true love.

Every one of this woman’s accusers walked away when Jesus stated “He who is without sin, cast the first stone”. Are people throwing stones at you? Are you throwing stones at others? Jesus is our example to follow. Forgive, encourage and move on to better things.

About the Author:
Julie Munro lives in New Zealand and is mother to a wonderful daughter who is pursuing a career in Radio. Julie lives with “invisible illnesses” that God is using to teach her lessons she many never have learned.