DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 4, 2019
“And Injustice For All”
Prayer: Our God and Father, You are perfect in every way. Your judgement in pure and righteous. We pray Lord that Your justice would prevail in this corrupt world filled with the injustices of sinful men. Even in those times when it seems that injustice is left unanswered, we know and trust Your word that promises the day is coming soon when You will deliver final judgement upon all of creation, and all will be called into account. As sinners ourselves, we hope and look forward to that day only because of the grace and forgiveness that Your Son Jesus won for us through His death and resurrection. It’s in His name that we pray, Amen.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Devotion – “And Injustice for All”
It was about two months ago or so that I was sitting in a coffee shop talking with an individual who asked to speak with me. The conversation started as most do with typical niceties and chit chat. Once we got settled, I asked, “So what’s up?” I could tell I just open the flood gates. Taking a moment in silence to seemingly gather their thoughts, I could see on this person’s face that their level of agitation was quickly growing just thinking about what they wanted to say. “Well” they said, “here’s what’s going on.” For the next 15-20 minutes, I listened as this person listed innumerable unfortunate things that were happening in their life. It was difficult to listen as they continued to talk because there wasn’t really much connecting the many different circumstances they were explaining to me. Clearly, this person just needed to “vent” and unload a lot of frustrations on their mind. I’ve been there many times myself, as I’m sure you have, and I know what it feels like to have the need to offload a bunch of junk, so I was happy to listen.
After they were finished airing out all of their frustrations, this person just kind of stopped and looked at me. I could tell by the look on their face that they were telling me without words, “ok, so…what do you have to say about all of that pastor?” Truth is, I was still just trying to process everything I heard, but it was clear they wanted a response. So I said, “Wow, that’s a lot of stuff going on you just described.” “You can say that again!” the responded sarcastically. In an attempt to better understand what they were trying to tell me I asked, “So, how can I help?” Taking another few seconds pause to think, they finally said, “Life’s just not fair!”
Almost without a thought or hesitation, I replied, “You can say that again!” Once the word left my mouth I nearly regretted them. I wasn’t trying to mock this persons’ earlier response to me, and I didn’t want to minimize their frustration, nor did I want them to take me literally and say it all again! Fortunately, they laughed and just shook their head in agreement. For a brief moment we both just kind of sat there, each taking a sip of our coffee, contemplating that reality. Life isn’t fair, is it?
I grew up as an older brother. Ask any oldest sibling and they will tell you life certainly isn’t fair. “Why does my little brother get away with all the things I got punished for?!” Of course, my younger brother probably grew up complaining, “why does he get to always sit in the front seat and stay up later than me?” Every generation looks at the younger generations behind them and thinks, “These kids don’t appreciate anything anymore, they’re handed everything on a silver platter!” The world is filled with injustice. You and I could both list countless examples of how life isn’t fair.
As the moment of reflective silence continued between myself and the individual I was meeting with at the coffee shop, almost without really thinking about it, I said out loud, “Well, thank God that life isn’t fair.”
Every sin, every injustice, is first and foremost a sin and an injustice toward God. Jesus said (Matt. 22:36-40) the first most important commandment is to “love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength.” The second most important commandment is like is; “love your neighbor as yourself.” The second is like the first because if we love God as we should, we would not sin against one another. If anyone was able to love and give God the justice He deserves for so lovingly creating us, then there would be no injustice in the world toward mankind.
Can you imagine what the world would be like, what life would be like, if God brought perfect and exacting justice against every sin? Not just the gross sins and injustices of the world that outrage us in the news, but our sin and our own injustices against our neighbor and against God? Who could withstand such justice? No one. Jesus makes this exact point in His sermon on the mount when He says in Matthew 5:29-30, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
Jesus was not speaking literally here of course. He was using hyperbole to emphasis the seriousness of sin and just how severe God’s justice would be if every sin were to be answered for. The truth is friends, if God were to bring His holy and righteous justice into the world, the land would be covered with crosses…and you and I and all of humanity would occupy them.
As I said, “thank God that life isn’t fair.” God in all of His most amazing grace and love, brought all of the world’s injustices upon Himself, upon His one and only Son Jesus. As our text today from 2 Corinthians 5 says, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Make no mistake, God is a just God and a holy God. Injustice and sin must be answered for, and God indeed has answered, not by punishing us with what we deserve but instead laying the consequences and penalty and guilt for all of our sin on the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
God is so merciful to us, that instead of destroying all of humanity by bringing justice upon the Earth, He instead displayed His great love and power by using even the injustice of humanity, the corruption of both the Jewish council and the Roman government to bring about salvation even for them, and even for you and I. Salvation has been provided in the blood of Jesus. The only reason people will not be saved and perish for eternity is because they reject the merciful injustice of God for our sake in Christ.
Let me assure you, the day is coming very soon when God will bring His full justice upon the earth. Every word and ever action will be called into account, from everyone both living and dead. Justice will have its day. And the only way to be acquitted of the charges against us, is to believe in Jesus and accept His punishment as your own, to count the injustice He endured as the justice God should have brought upon you and me. The Apostle John was given a glimpse of that final judgement in the book of Revelation chapter 20:11-15. John says:
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Have your name written in the Book of Life my friends. Believe in Jesus Christ and thank God that life indeed is not fair. God bless you all, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
