Misguided and Misplaced

We have seen that God All-Powerful really is all powerful! But he is just and never treats anyone unfairly. That is why people fear and respect him. He shows no respect for those who think they are wise. (Job 37:23-24)

We serve the one who makes heavens heavy with rain and snow; winds that gentle the leaves and topple them at times; oceans that flow in and out with rising and ebbing tides; and the one who takes notice of our every action or inaction with his watchful eye. God's justice is sometimes not understood - as much as we try to understand his holiness requires the need to judge sin, it is hard for us to wrap our heads around a merciful and loving God bringing 'justice' in a sinful world. I think we have come to think of justice as everyone being treated equally rather than that a morally righteous God cannot tolerate sin and must expose it for what it is. Sin is sin - give it all kinds of other names, but it is still sin. All sin must be judged by a holy, righteous, and upright God. The good news is that the penalty for sin need not be 'meted out' to us any longer because we have a Savior who has already paid the price for ALL our sins.

God never treats anyone unfairly. He might hold us accountable for our actions, and even our inaction, but he does so in a 'fair' and 'equitable' manner. No sin is worse than another - all sin is a violation of his holy standards. We might want to call a lie a 'little white lie', but all untruth is simply untruth - even when we put a bow on a pig it is still a pig! God's justice does something other forms of 'human justice' doesn't - it calls us to repentance. His justice might bring conviction of our sin, allowing certain 'calamitous things' to occur that bring us face-to-face with our sin and his holiness, but it never leaves us without a means by which to leave that sin behind and move into his grace. Some may think they can escape his judgment, but we are unable to find a place 'secure enough' for our sin to never be exposed and looked upon as sin through his holy eyes.

The All-Powerful God is really all-powerful. His main reason for exposing sinfulness is to give us an opportunity to repent (turn from it) and find his path of right-living. You may have heard the scripture alluded to that it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. The passage doesn't deal with man having wealth - it deals with what wealth does to a man's heart. The main point is that 'things' and 'activities' can take up all our attention and demand our unyielding affection. When they do, we find ourselves making those things the 'all-powerful god' in our lives. God's plan is for us to have no other 'gods' but him - if we do, we can count on his judgment in order to help us realize our misplaced affections and misdirected attentions. Just sayin!