Skip to main content

How Justice Works


Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom 

          I recently read an interesting article about justice. The author pointed out that if you modify the word justice, you have perverted the concept and are no longer talking about justice. "Social justice" is a special kind of justice that trumps all other justice. In the name of social justice, you can steal, riot, loot.... 
         The good news is that when you talk about the justice that God demands, you're not talking about some special kind of justice. I have to admit, I have a skewed sense of justice. I tend to think that those who agree with me are more just than those who don't.  I say it's because what I say agrees with Scripture (and it does tend to) and if I'm wrong, you're welcome to show me from Scripture how I'm wrong. The problem is that I don't like to leave justice entirely up to God. I want to go easier on some folks (like whatever people I'm talking to) and harder on others (about whom I'm talking, but not to whom I'm talking.) I am not equal in my words and my deeds.
           Some people like to think that if you're good deeds outweigh or outnumber your bad deeds, that you are just. If you are 51% innocent or just and 49% evil or guilty, you've made the grade. Oddly, that's not the way courts work. If you are declared guilty of any of the charges made against you, you are punished, even though you were exonerated of 99 other charges. The only way to escape that punishment or to be found just is if someone else confesses to the crime. That's what Jesus did. I am not just because I never do anything wrong. I am just because Jesus accepted the blame. Those who hold on to their crimes, who do not accept His offer to accept that blame have to face the eternal consequences.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more