We live in an unjust world. I like to think that there is a lot of goodness available and that we have to look for it and recognize it. Still, we also have to realize that there is a lot of injustice.
Seeking justice
How good it would be if justice were done and the corrupt were done away with!
More than once, I’ve thought about it and heard it, haven’t you thought about it too? We see so much evil and injustice every day, especially if we watch the news, which seems to amplify the existing evil. It appears that it is more important to denounce others’ corruption than our fellow men’s goodness, although that is another matter.
Today in my reading of the Bible, I came across the following quote:
If you were to take into account all our sins, no one would be able to stand before you. (Psalm 130:3)
The truth is that it left me thinking a lot about my reality. If my wishes were fulfilled, and God did justice in the world by taking into account the injustices of all-including mine-most likely no one would survive the settling of scores.
Comparisons
I’m just not that bad a person. We all have our things, but I am a good person. I don’t hurt anyone, I’m honest…
Comparisons often calm our conscience slightly. After all, we will always find defects in others that will make us feel better because we don’t have them. But to be fair to the truth, are we absolutely correct? That’s where the problem begins. Depending on what we compare ourselves to, we are better or worse people. But if we do it with God, like the one who wrote the psalm I was reading this morning, we realize that the difference is abysmal.
Yeah, but we’re not going to compare ourselves with God… aren’t we?
Yes and no.
No, we shouldn’t compare ourselves with God because we’re at a different level, and we’re always going to find something that’s missing. No matter how hard we try, our best intentions are ever betrayed by what we are: bad people. I’m not happy to acknowledge this, but it’s my reality, your reality.
Yes, we can compare ourselves with God because we need a good model to follow. That is good because this comparison invites us to continuously improve.
But didn’t you just say that we are bad people?
Solutions
Fortunately, there is a solution to this dilemma: God himself. The same psalm continues to say:
But you forgive us. (Psalm 130:4)
God’s forgiveness is what makes the difference.
Yes, but if God forgives those people who do so many unjust things, that would no longer be fair to him or to those who have been affected.
It’s true, but God makes a perfect mixture of justice and mercy: He gives all of us – yes, all of us – a new chance, and he assumes the punishment that justice requires. That’s what Jesus’ death was for. But God goes even further, offering us an inner change so that we do not fall back into the same problem as before (or into others).
Is it that easy?
Yes, although at a very high price. It is up to us to accept the opportunity and be patient with others “corrupt” like us who also need another chance.
The text I was reading goes on to say:
In God I have put my hope; with all my soul, I trust in him because I trust in his promises. (Psalm 130:5)
