The idea of an absolute, comprehensive, and pure justice is both appealing and frightening. The appeal is that we have an innate sense that something (or somethingS) is wrong with this world, and that what is wrong needs to be addressed. We also realize that whatever it is, it is too big for us to manage the task. So, knowing that someone capable of bringing absolute and perfect justice to this broken world is appealing to some part of all of us.
Still, something about perfect justice is scary, because I also know that I not only notice something wrong, but I also contribute to it. Far from bringing a solution to our problems, I make the worse. G. K. Chesterton, a British writer once responded to the question: "What is wrong with the world?" wrote in his answer: "Dear Writer, I am. Sincerely, G. K. Chesterton" If perfect justice is coming, then my flaws and character are due just as thorough inspection as anybody else's.
The answer that joins the appeal and the fear is grace. Consider the hymn-writer in the song "Let us Love and Sing and Wonder."
Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more
Grace does not simply overlook moral failure and the brokenness in our lives; it does not merely pass over our contributions to what is wrong in our world. Rather, it answers the demands of justice with a magnificent display of both, grace and justice, at the cross of Christ. There, Jesus endured perfect justice for our failures and provided us an escape from destruction that we earned. Only absolute, comprehensive, and pure justice can make sense of our innate awareness of right and wrong. Only Jesus can make absolute, comprehensive, and pure justice appealing, because only he can make us fit to endure justice.
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Friday Foursomes
It's about time for some golf, disc golf that is. Let's meet at 3:30 on the front steps of the UC, then carpool to Cane Creek Park. We could get in a round before the weekend. It is officially Spring after all, and we need to be outside. See you there.
Room News
RUF has moved. Starting Jan. 25 we will meet in the Farr Building Room 201A. It is on the second floor in the southeast corner of the building. If you don't have a compass, it is clearly marked with "201A" above the door. We are studying Daniel to learn how to live faithfully in a "post-Christian" culture.