God's Justice Is Real

People don't get what they deserve.

There are people out there who don't get what they deserve. Liars. Cheaters. Murderers. Rapists. Some get caught, some don't. Even if they do, they all too often seem to get off too easily. Some even walk away seemingly scot-free.

Where's the justice in that? How is that right? How is it possible that a just, loving, protecting God would allow some of these things to happen? Why would He not stop them? Why would He not punish those responsible for even thinking such things? It's in His power. Why doesn't He do it?

Is God just at all?

What is justice?

 Justice is just behavior or treatment.  So what is just behavior or treatment? The definition of "just" is based on or behaving according to what is morally right or fair. My definition of justice is getting what you deserve. Fairness. Righting a wrong, or at least paying for it.

All too often, I don't see that happening. People commit legally and morally corrupt crimes, unspeakable, unthinkable, unbelievably evil acts. According to my definition of justice, their repayment would be some equally unspeakable and unthinkable punishment. An eye for an eye. What comes around goes around. In my justice system, no murderer, no rapist would go to jail. You don't want to know what I'd do.

That, to me, is justice.

But I'm not God.

God is just. That is a concrete fact that I accept and believe. That doesn't mean I understand it. That doesn't mean I comprehend how someone can--through an act of willful, intentional evil--kill or brutally assault another person and not face the wrath of an angry God right then and there. If I were God . . . But I'm not.

I believe God is just. I have to trust that His justice is real. I have to faithfully hold to the understanding that His ways are above my ways, and His thoughts above my thoughts. His very character is justice and righteousness. He is perfectly moral, right, fair, and just.  Everything He does, how He responds to every word, thought, and deed of ours will reflect His justice.

He is God. His justice is real.

No one will escape His right hand.

The right hand of God is powerful and mighty. Nothing escapes His all-seeing eyes. No one can hide, no one can run, no one can avoid His reckoning. God is just, and all things will be made right. Every crime, every sin, every misdeed will be paid for in full. God's scale of justice will balance.

What is really hard for me is God's patience. When I think of justice, I think in terms of the immediate. I think of now. You did this? Then you deserve that. Right now.

Apparently, that's not how God works.

Thank God for His grace and mercy!

Grace is an undeserved gift. Mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment. Somehow, in God's perfection, grace, mercy, and justice are all exquisitely combined. Though I cannot begin to explain it or understand it, God executes His grace, His mercy, and His justice simultaneously through His Son Jesus Christ. And how thankful I am!

In my justice system, I'd be damned. I, just as all others, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means, according to justice, what is fair and right is that I have to pay. Falling short of God's glory means being unworthy of His presence. The only alternative is a real place of separation and punishment we call hell. That's what I deserve.

God's justice is different. God gave His only Son as a payment for the sins of all who accept Him. I cling to that, and so should you. God's justice demands payment for sin. God's grace and mercy gave Jesus Christ to pay for the sins we commit. All sins. No matter how big. No matter how small. Paid in full. If you have Jesus.

God's justice is real.

When administered at the hands of men, justice is imperfect. God's justice is real. It's perfect. It's beyond our understanding. Whatever we've done, whatever anyone has done, will be repaid, either through the blood of Christ, or through eternity in hell. And though we may not understand it, that's right, fair, and just, because God's justice is the only justice that really matters.