Justice...Mine or God's
Justice. As someone born and raised in
the United States, that is a loaded term. Phrases like liberty and justice for all come to mind. So do historical
movements, courtrooms, and balance scales. Justice is something so deeply
ingrained in our culture, and as people, it’s woven into our sense of how the
world is supposed to be. Is it any wonder? We were, after all, made in God’s
image, and Psalm 89:14 says, “Justice
and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne,” which means justice is really important to God too.
But is my sense of justice always God’s sense of justice?
NOPE. Let me give you an example. I’ll
springboard off my recent posts about dragon bait in this post. If you just
read “dragon bait” and did a ?!!! in your mind, feel free to go back and read
through the (intentionally vague) scenario.
It took MONTHS. Emotionally processing
all the facets of yick and allowing God to do a deep work in my heart. Healing.
Freedom from the sneaky people-pleasing trap. Identity. Then I had a startling
realization. There was an injustice (no, that wasn’t the startling realization)
that I wanted the wrongs to be righted (that was it). This righting didn’t have
to be anything dramatic or even punitive, but I wanted some form of righting to
happen. It was my sense of justice. Then came the whisper into my heart….
What
if I choose to heal instead? What if a conversation never opens up?
It was a convicting revelation. There
was part of me that wanted a
conversation, a conversation with a neutral third party. Oh, sure, there might
be intentions of reconciliation within the conversation somewhere, but if I’m
going to be honest, there was mostly (a very human) part of my heart that
wanted someone to know that I had been treated unfairly with no recourse. I
wanted a form of satisfaction on an emotional level. GULP. OUCH!
Would
I want my human frailties on display for someone else? YIKES! Right? It
challenged the reservoirs of grace in my soul. It challenged my human sense of
justice. My human sense of justice that sought some sort of emotional recompense,
but what if….
What if I took my human emotions out of
it and looked at it from God’s perspective.
Does He always expose my human frailties? Or does He instead meet me with His
love and grace and bring healing truth into my heart which delivers me into
FREEDOM? THAT’S God’s justice.
God’s justice isn’t so concerned with
making my human emotions tip onto the happy side of the scale. His justice is
all about healing, wholeness, and freedom. When God delivered justice to the
world, He did so through the death of His Son. God’s justice delivers us back
into our original condition, the
condition we lost when sin entered the world. Unity with God. Freedom.
Wholeness. Authority. Therefore, if I take my human emotions out of the mix,
God’s choice to deliver another person out of a position of woundedness into
healing and freedom IS His justice; I can choose to rejoice in the power of His grace in someone else’s life. I can also choose
to stand firm in the love of Christ which covers a multitude of sins (and not
just mine), and trust that God is more than enough to heal my heart too if I
allow it (see 1 Peter 4:8).
Is there a place for accountability?
Absolutely. Reconciliation? Yes! Restoration? Of course! Forgiveness and grace?
ALWAYS. We are ALL human and make mistakes; one person’s human frailties
collide with another. It’s a story as old as sin. But it’s not my job to judge
someone else’s heart (that’s God’s); it IS my job to stand firm in peace, love,
and unity and trust God to take care of my heart (see Matthew 7:1-5, Ephesians
6:14-17, Philippians 1:27, and 1 Peter 4:8).
It was a God-sized challenge that worked
deeper measures of grace into my heart. I had to lean HARD into His presence,
focused solely and daily on His grace. As He lavishly poured out His grace into
me, I was able to overflow grace around me—including this particular situation.
I couldn’t have done it on my own; it required complete trust and dependence
upon the Lord. I’ll be honest, there were times I wasn’t sure I could, but He
is abounding in love and kindness and FAITHFUL. Always. Sometimes it was all I
could do but fall into His grace-laden presence, but He carried me through and
did a work beyond my understanding and wisdom. Could there still be a
conversation? Sure! But one rooted in God’s grace to do a work of healing and
wholeness, not one looking for emotional satisfaction of a human frailty.
I pray this story encourages and
challenges you to lean into His grace to not only receive it but also to release it. He truly is a good, good Father. To all of us.