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God Is Love 17


          He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
       
God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right.  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p 204) 


          How would you feel about walking into your heavenly home, looking out the window, and finding the Hitler was having a picnic in the yard next door, and had invited Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and the other, lesser dictators who had also presided over the deaths of millions?  Would you consider God just? Would you think He had done the right thing? I know some people believe that everyone does end up in heaven, but I don’t find that in Scripture and I suspect many more would say “That’s not right. That’s not fair.” We associate God with what we believe to be just and right. A god who is less than just and right isn’t seen as much of a god.
         At the same time, some folks claim that love means that you help the beloved hide the bodies. One of the problems the police have in bringing justice to some neighborhoods is the fact “nobody sees nothin’.” You can’t answer questions, sometimes not because you’re afraid, but because it’s seen as disloyal and unloving.
         I tend to think that the loving thing to do when it’s known that a beloved has committed a crime is to testify against him/her, and visit him/her in prison regularly, take care of the details of his/her life as possible. If we don’t squarely face the weaknesses and sins of our beloveds as weaknesses and sins, our love is feeble. The strongest love, real love always acts in accordance with what is right because love seeks what is in the best interest of the beloved, and justice is in that best interest.

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