In all honesty, I'm sure I do this more often, and in more ways, than I'd like to admit. Today, though, I'm talking about playing God in that I often want judge and administer justice.
I know what the Bible says. I am not to judge (pass sentence) on anyone. I am supposed to forgive. I am to be merciful. I am to turn the other cheek. I am to love my enemies, pray for those who persecute me, and not seek revenge. I am to leave judgment and justice to God.
That all sounds good. Until . . .
That's when what I know and I what I want clash.
You know what I mean when I say "until." Until someone messes with my wife or kids. Until someone messes with my reputation. Until someone lies, or cheats, or steals, or hurts, or whatever. We all have buttons that people can push. Murder. Rape. Pedophilia. Adultery. And once my "until" button is pushed, I want to be judge, jury, and executioner.
People do things that I really struggle to forgive. Things I struggle to understand how God forgives. Things I would think God would respond to in "Old Testament fashion." You know, fire from heaven, the earth opening up and swallowing them, Angel of Death, plague, leprosy . . . You get the picture. I think a few lightning strikes are in order.
When God doesn't respond that way, my sense of "justice" kicks in. This person did something wrong, and they should be punished. If God's not going to do something about it, I will.
Now, I know I'm not supposed to think like that. I know it's not my role. I know God is just and will avenge. What I want, though, is something different. I want that person punished. Now. Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. Life for life.
The problem (or one of them) is . . .
I only want this applied one way. I want it applied by me, not to me. Here's what I mean. If someone murders someone, I think swift justice is in order. But, according to Jesus, hating someone is the same as murder. Have I ever hated someone, even for just a moment? Yes. Do I want my form of justice applied? No.
I try to justify my position by saying that actually murdering someone and just thinking about it are obviously different. Or by knowing that I've never thought about molesting a child, and if I did, I'd deserve to be put down. The problem with this is that all sin deserves punishment. The wages of any and every sin, what all sinners deserve, is death.
To apply my form of justice, everybody would die an eternal spiritual death. Me included.
God offers forgiveness for all sin.
To get this out of the way, the "unforgivable sin" is to blasphemy the Holy Spirit (Mark 3 and Matthew 12). That's beyond the scope of this discussion. Outside of that, Jesus Christ died for all sins. Anyone who truly repents and accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior is forgiven, no matter what they've done. Sometimes that's hard for me to accept. To imagine that the rapists, the child molesters, the murderers could accept Jesus, be forgiven, and be with us in heaven.
Sometimes I don't want God to forgive them. Sometimes I don't think they deserve it. Then I realize, I don't either. Nothing I've done, or could do, earns me the right to be forgiven. I can never do enough "good" or be "good" enough to earn my salvation. My first sin, my slightest misstep, earned me hell. Without forgiveness, that's where I'd be headed.
It doesn't matter that I see certain sins as worse than others. The wages of all sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). The gift is forgiveness, and it covers all sins of those who accept it, no matter who they are or what they've done. Period.
So where is justice?
Justice is in the hands of God, where it belongs. Jesus Christ paid the price for sin. If you accept that, God accepts the blood of Jesus as payment for your sin and justice is served. If you don't, you go to hell to pay for your sin for eternity, and justice is served. Either way, God decides. It is He, and only He, whom can make that decision.
When we try to take that justice from Him and act on our own, we step beyond our role and out of His will. That, my friends, is a very dangerous place to be.
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