Justice

Galatians 6:7-10

Verse 9  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

    Yesterday we talked about liberty and how we have a responsibility to obey God and that is where our freedom shows.  Today we look at the angle of disobedience of the law.

    We are created in God’s image and that means we have been made with certain things which reflect Him without our even thinking about it – creativity, ability to reason, and justice to name a few.  Justice is the one we will be looking at today.

    Even the youngest of our society fight for justice, don’t they?  “That’s not fair!”  I’m sure we have all heard that and have likely said it ourselves.  Sometimes this fairness that is complained about is simply that we don’t think we got as much as the other guy or that they got away with more than we did.  But the root of the justice that God planted in us when He made us, is not so much about us getting our way.  Justice goes much deeper than that.

    Justice speaks of what is just or right.  Justice is seeing the proper result for the action taken.  It is getting your due reward – positive or negative.  We like it when someone who has wronged us gets caught and punished, but when it is us that is awaiting justice, we hope for mercy.  We don’t want to suffer the consequences of our actions.  We hate to think that our actions are as bad as they are.  We don’t like thinking about the truth of ourselves.  But if we never look at and admit the truth to ourselves, we can never appreciate mercy when it is given to us.

    The beauty of God’s justice is that it is pure and it is right.  There is no corruption in it.  God is pure and that is why there is no injustice in Him.  He can’t co-exist with sin.  That is the very reason Jesus came to earth.  God’s justice required it.  There had to be punishment for sins.  It had to be paid.  God’s justice is so pure that it required the blood of His own Son to afford mercy to us in our sin.  Of all reasons to worship God and God alone, isn’t His justice reason enough?

Making It Personal

    Have you ever thought about how much you would owe God for your sins?  Do you understand how unworthy you are of His mercy?  Have you thanked Him recently for His justice being paid through the blood of His Son?

Making It Personal Kids

    Do you get punished for not doing what you are told?  Do you like being punished?  What kind of things do you think God punishes for?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for the mercy You pour out on us.  Please convict us of the sins that deserve Your justice so that we stop thinking we are free to sin.  In Jesus’ name, amen.