READ: JOHN 8:1-11; ROMANS 3:23-24

I don’t even know why we need to have this conversation. Although I didn’t say that thought out loud, my eyebrows slanted halfway toward my nose and my arms wrapped tightly around my chest declared exactly what I was thinking.

Why in the world we had to have a discussion about what music we listened to in youth group, my sophomore self couldn’t figure out. I’d shunned anything under a secular label and only listened to Christian hip hop if I felt edgy that day. Hadn’t I already checked off the box for listening to God-honoring music? So, why did I have to endure this talk?

A girl with curly hair that went to her knees hugged her legs. “To be honest, I really struggle with this. A lot of the music I listen to swears left and right, and I’ve just become numb to it. I’m not even thinking about what the words mean.”

Another boy in a hoodie seconded a reply. “If I really think about it, the way some singers talk about women in the music I listen to…” He shook his head, ears a slight scarlet. “Let’s just say, my mom’s not in my room when my Spotify’s up.”

Three others spoke about their struggles with music that glorified everything from drug overdose to all manner of things that happened behind closed doors. Oh.

I unraveled my arms and let my shoulders relax. Why was I being judgmental about this when I struggled with my own kind of music? Sure, it may not have come from a Spotify playlist, but on a regular basis, I listened to plenty of tunes called Jealousy, Pride, Anger Problems, and the occasional Gossip. And to be honest, I didn’t want my mom in my room when I played that playlist.

Why did I want to throw stones, when we all played the same music of sin? • Hope Bolinger

• When some religious leaders were getting ready to stone a woman who was caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her” (John 8:7). Then, one by one, everyone dropped their stones and left. Jesus is the only one who is without sin, and He loves us sinners so much that He died on the cross so we could be forgiven. The truth is, every kind of sin is bad for us, but Jesus has come to set us free. How does knowing that we all sin, and we all need Jesus’s grace, help us view ourselves and others with compassion instead of condemnation?

But when they continued asking him [Jesus], he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.” John 8:7 (WEB)