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It’s not Fair! (or right, or legal or just or moral ) Uhm, who made us judge?
English: Jesus Christ, polychromed and gilded woodcarved relief by Martin Vinazer (* 1674 in St. Ulrich in Gröden; † 1744) signed MVF (MV Fecit) Deutsch: Gefasstes Holzrelief des Martin Vinatzer gezeichnet MVF (MV Fecit) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional thought of the day:
7 And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. 8 In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. 9 Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you. Philippians 4:7-9 (TEV)
“When a layman sets himself up as an arbiter of morals, he frequently errs; laymen can be only disciples.” (1)
A disclaimer to start with: I have been having to deal with, preparing to deal with, and contemplating taking on a few things that are injust, unfair, and is in one situation – evil. Why I do this, I don’t know – and it frustrates the heck out of me.
When I read the words of St Josemaria Escriva, quoted above this morning, my reaction was twofold.
The first was that I thought the word pastor/priest should be added to the word laymen. As I think through that one, I realize that we as individuals do not, but in our role as ordained, as we stand in Christ’s place – by his command and forgive and retain sins, we do have that role. We even have the role to confront people who have sinned against us. (see Luther’s Large Catechism – the section on the Ten Commandments – The 8th Commandment for a great discussion of this)
But we cannot set ourselves up as the arbiter, as the judge, jury and executioner. Not our role.
The other reaction I had, is – this statement flies in the face of 60% plus of what I see on FB. From people commenting on selected photos of presidents and their umbrellas, to comments about how evil that person is, or this one, or how unjust this situation and that is, we vent our frustrations on the internet. We like having that illusion of power, and an illusion is all that it is. We feel like we can strike back, that we aren’t powerless, that we have a voice, that we somehow fulfilled a religious obligation. And we are just spinning our wheels, and our souls. There is a time to effectively work to overcome evil – in a way that is personal and caring and effective.
We haven’t been doing what’s good and beneficial. In fact, when we set ourselves up as judge and jury, as we spend our time digging up the mud on this person or that, as we fight for our “rights”, we effectively say “no” to the peace of God. We take the matter into our hands – and with the illusion of power, allow things to take our minds off of what St. Paul suggests we should be doing,
Focusing on Christ, and His work. Looking at the things which will bring Christ into the picture, His mercy, His love, His gospel.
Whether it makes things fair or not. After all – Christ didn’t combat evil – talking about what was fair and moral. He overcame it – by loving us enough to suffer the evil – to show us that love.
As we deal with Mondays, and a complicated week – and we want to strike out because its not fair, let us instead remember we are nailed to the cross of Christ – that we’ve died and risen with Him.
Therefore – we are home – and at peace.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 310-311). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- It’s Not About Calling the Qualified, or Even Qualifying the Called… it’s about revealing Christ. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Serving God where ever He calls you to service (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Dissatisfied? Discontent? Frustrated? Try losing yourself! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Do they know of your trust in God from your FB postings? (justifiedandsinner.com)
Broken People Healing in Christ..one step
Thought of the day….
Earlier this week, my devotional/discussion thgouth included the mission statement of my church. “where broken people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal”
It had more hits than any other devotional blog I have written, and some pretty nice comments came to me. (By the way – feel free to comment and discuss what I right about here). It made me think about the need to discuss what it means to be broken, and what it means to be healed, and how this happens when we find ourselves gathered with others in God’s presence….
The first step is a challenge in our society is difficult – it is not only admitting we are broken people, but mourning and being mortified that we are. Isaiah demonstrated this sorrow and pain this way…
6:5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT)
Have you ever, when someone asks you “How is it going”, really wanted to be honest. To let them know that your heartbroken, or anxious about finances, or challenged, and cannot find any reason for hope? That you are struggling with depression, or worried about what you might hear at that next doctor’s visit? That you don’t know how to deal with the issues your kids misbehavior, but it scares you none the less? But of course you say, “It’s going fine!”
Or what about us as a people, do we take great pride in our country, and pretend that everything is okay? That families are being ripped apart, that children are growing up without any sense of ethics or morality? Do we grieve about a country that is so calloused by sin that we don’t notice that most television shows include adultery as the norm? Do we realize how many people live in great need? Do we realize we are more concerned about having to pay for abortions, than the fact that 50 million lives have been tossed away?
The first step? It’s not admitting we are broken people living in a broken world.
It is realizing it.
And realizing – that no matter how much we try…. we can’t fix what is wrong…
We can’t do miracles on that magnitude. There is only One who can… the One who created us, and can re-create us. We can trust Him, depend on Him, know that He will fix, heal, repair and make it all new.
For that is why he came…even as He explain in his first sermon – as He quotes Isaiah,
4:18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:18-21 (NKJV)
As your heart cries out, about your own brokenness, or the brokenness of this world, my you realize that for you as well… today this scripture has been fulfilled… as Christ heals your brokenness, and mine, and the worlds….
