Day 149: Luke 7:49–50

He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (v. 50).

During the writing of my book Breaking Free, the enemy used every trick in the book to break me. He is our accuser (see Rev. 12:10) and a shameless opportunist (see Luke 4:13). He knew that Breaking Free necessitated very deep scrutiny of my history because the study is based on my journey to liberty. My whole life has forever been laid bare before God, but it had never been so vividly laid bare before me. At the taunting of the enemy, I found myself at one point so grieved over the “yuck” in my history that I could not imagine how God could possibly use me. I literally questioned my own calling.

During this painful time, I had a speaking engagement in Louisiana. Customarily someone from the host church delivers a devotional to the team before the conference begins. That day a woman who did not know me, had never heard me speak, had never read a single word I’d written, walked in the door and pulled up a chair in front of me. The entire group could hear her, but the devotional she delivered was for me.

She sat only inches away and never took her eyes off mine. With obvious anointing, she told the story of the sinful woman in the Luke 7 passage, then she said, “I don’t know you, Beth. I have no idea why God sent me with such a message to give you, but He told me clearly to say these words to you: ‘Tell her that her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much.’ ” I cannot describe my feelings then or my feelings now.

This Scripture is the only one framed on my desk. It sits only inches from my computer. As I sit at my desk, I stare at the reminder of God’s unreasonable grace, and I’m reminded that I’m forgiven. Indeed, how could someone like me not love Him much?

Perhaps, as it did for me, this passage causes you to picture yourself in this sinful woman’s place. If you, too, have been in this scene with Jesus, perhaps you know the inner struggle of a sinful past. Oh, how I would love to be for you today what that woman in Louisiana was to me during that difficult time. Allow me to pull up my chair right in front of you, look you in the eye, and tell you what He told me to say: “Your many sins have been forgiven—for you love much.” Go in peace.