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Psalms 10:2-4 Thoughts on justice Day 96

Good evening fellow sojourners,

Hope you had a blessed Sabbath.  I am a day behind on devotional, but I think the Spirit was working on my thoughts for the last day.

May God give you his peace in the week ahead.

Blessings 

Jeff 

The concept of justice has been the subject of much debate in the last 6 months since the homicide of George Floyd.  Yesterday at Men's D, we read the following from the McArthur study guide on Proverbs. " Justice is the ability to conform to the will and standard of God - a practical righteousness that matches one's positional righteousness"  I took exception to this statement because it sounded like sinless perfection in this life.  But as a I started thinking about this passage from Psalms, I began to question my questioning.

The psalmist is establishing a link between injustice (hotly pursuing the poor, devising schemes, greedy for gain) and atheism (denounces the Lord, does not seek him, says "there is no God").  Since the root of injustice is atheism, the root of justice must be the God of the Bible.  So, I must agree that justice is the ability to conform to the will and standard of God.  Only the Christian can be just, because only the Christian has the ability to conform to the will and standard of God.  To be clear, we get this ability by being regenerated by God and having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.  There is nothing inherent in a person who becomes a Christian that gives him this ability.

And as far as sinless perfection being implied, I am reading too much into the words.  Paul explains this in Philippians.  Press on to make Jesus my own, because he has made me his own.  But not that I have already attained or am already perfect.  Positional righteousness is complete in Christ and my goal should be to make it more and more a reality in my personal life.  

So when we look at injustice in the Michael Floyd case, the "justice" that Black Lives Matter looks for is not conformance to the will and standard of God.  There may be some Christians involved, but the "justice" is coercive and focused on an artificial standard of man's making.  It is ultimately legalism.  Was taking George Floyd's life in conformance with God's will or standard.  Absolutely not.  But neither is the "justice" desired by BLM.

Instruction - God is just because he judges with complete knowledge of thoughts and intents of the heart.  He is not partial to any social or ethnic group.  As a believer, I must precise define what justice is and not allow culture to co-opt the word.

Thanksgiving - Only the God revealed in scripture is just.  By accepting Jesus' payment on the cross, The Father  is just in forgiving sins of believers.  He doesn't pretend the sins never happened.  They are swallowed up in the righteousness of Christ.

Confession - my mind is not renewed in all areas.  Language is surrendered to cultural forces that scheme and plot to murder the innocent.

Petition - make us bold to proclaim the truth of the gospel.  Only conversion will bring true justice to society.

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