Justice isn't Cruel

It's a comfort to think my dad wasn't altogether clueless about Heaven.

He tried to teach us, at grace over meals, "Blessed are the pure in heart." And it never would have occurred to me to ask him a question like, "Daddy, are we going to Heaven," like in a cute advertisement by a Christian group.

My dad was clueless about working works by faith. He wasn't altogether faithful in the work that he wanted to do. But he did know a thing or two about faith.

And he said we're each accountable to God. We each give an account to Heaven. Our personal decisions in life are between each person and Heaven.

That's true.

So, when we say "liberty and justice for all" in our nation, it would be good if we could each agree that justice, in Jesus, isn't about retribution or vengeance. What's just, in Heaven, is being right with Heaven. So the saints rejoice over each one who repents.

Each of us getting right with Heaven is called Christian "justification."

But someone's wife wanting retribution for wrong things that her husband did has nothing to do with Christian justification or with justice in the broader sense of someone working to right his or her wrongs.

Let's think that through.

Let's pray.

Justice, in Jesus, is each one, personally, being in right relationship with Jesus. It's not like the mistakes men made in our nation's old West.





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