Ok, so I will admit that this isn't a very Christmassy sort of blog, but it is something that I have been thinking about for a while.
I was watching the news a month or so ago, and while I now can no longer remember the details about the article, I still clearly remember questioning whether or not the person being interviewed was seeking vengeance or justice.
As I thought about that I wondered how many times in my own life had I confused the short term feeling of me getting satisfaction from revenge with a desire to see justice prevail. I have heard other talk about how they want to see justice in a situation and questioned whether this was truly the case, or whether they were just looking for an opportunity to extract their pound of flesh from the person who they feel has wronged them
So, I guess my first question is what is the difference between justice and vengeance?
Justice can be defined as: The ideal of fairness, esp. with regard to the punishment of wrongdoing or punishment of a person who has wronged someone.*
Revenge is similar, it can be defined as: Any form of personal retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some perceived harm or injustice. *
So you can see how it is easy to get confused between justice and revenge. When we indulge in revenge, we see ourselves as punishing the person who has offended us by causing some kind of perceived harm or injustice, and equalising the score, thus making things fair again.
But one question I have is; when we seek revenge, do we aim only to equalise things again, thus making it 'fair' or do we seek to 'one up' the person who we perceived to have wronged us, thus making our punishment 'un-fair'??!!!
So what do we do, how do we see justice served to all parties involved in a situation, and not seek revenge for perceived insults, harms or damages.
I think the best way to see justice served and not just revenge dealt is to ensure that an impartial third party first determines whether an injustice has in fact occurred and them to apportion the correct punishment that fits the severity of the affore mentioned injustice.
Isaiah 1:17 tells us: "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." It seems to me that the instructions that follow the command describe what justice should look like. When we are just we stand up for those who are being walked over, who are at a disadvantage and are suffering.
The best judge of a perceived injustice is often someone else. One of the key words in this definition is 'perceived'. What we perceive to be a major injustice, may actually be rather minor when we look at the cold hard facts and remove all of the emotion around the issue. When we take something personally (and lets be honest, there are some things that are almost impossible not to take personally) we naturally want to dispense our own justice or revenge to assuage our hurt or anger at the perceived offense. This then can lead to the person we exact our revenge upon, on the basis of dispensing justice, to feel a perceived injustice and retaliate, seeking vengeance and/or justice on their own behalf. And so the cycle continues and even escalates. When we allow a third party to determine the damage done and the required compensation/punishment required to restore fairness, the personal nature of the situation is removed and hopefully all parties are treated with dignity and respect and the balance of fairness is achieved. In Zechariah 7:9 we are told; "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another." This helps us to remember to ensure that the punishment fits the offense and the we do not oppress the unjust oppressor unfairly and thus become oppressive and unjust ourselves.
Leviticus 19:18 tells us: "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." So the next time you feel as though you have been wronged or offended, ask someone impartial if what has happened to you is fair, and instead of seeking revenge to even the score, allow someone else, maybe even God, to sort it out.
Actually, when I think about it, we have all been unjustly treated...
Except in this instance this injustice has worked in our favour, unjustly requiring an innocent party to take punishment that they did not deserve.
Jesus died for us, He took the punishment that was rightfully ours. God has given us His grace as unjust as it is (not that I am complaining mind you). We don't deserve it, that's why its called grace, and that's why it's amazing!!
*Wiktionary
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
How God is better than Santa
The countdown is on, less than a month to go until Christmas. Christmas Carols are being sung, trees and decorations are going up, people are shopping for presents and that large jolly man in a red suit is visiting shopping centres and meeting children in the lead up to the big night when he will come around to deliver toys to all of the good boys and girls. As the song goes, “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” The song also tells us that Santa is“Making a list and checking it twice, he’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town.”
I wonder; how often do we confuse God with Santa Claus??
I mean, there are some aspects of God that sort of overlap with our understanding of Santa. For instance, we know that God knows our every move. In Psalm 139 David tells us of God: O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. While Santa may know when we are sleeping or awake, God knows far, far more about us, probably even more than we think we know about ourselves.
And while Santa may know when our behaviour has been good or bad, the psalm tells us that God even knows our thoughts, both the good ones, and the bad ones.
And like Santa God has a list. The bible tells us that the Book of Life contains the names of all of those who believe in and follow Jesus. Revelation tells us of those who choose to follow Jesus: “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” God knows us, he knows all about us, he even records our names in the book of life when we chose to follow Jesus, but unlike Santa, God keeps no record of our wrongs. Unlike Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, there is no naughty list in heaven. When writing 1 Corinthians Paul spoke of the unconditional nature of love, and how true love keeps no record of wrongs. In Isaiah God tells us of Himself; "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
And so while Santa may be able to tell us what we have done wrong and why we are on the naughty list, God neither keeps a naughty list nor does he remember what we might have done to qualify us for the naughty list.
On December 24th each year billions of children go to bed and lie awake for hours in anticipation of the arrival of the large jolly man in the red suit, Santa, who brings with him a red sack transported by 9 reindeer, one of which has an extraordinarily shiny nose. This red sack hopefully contains the toys that were on a list that was sent to Santa many weeks, even months before. The receipt of these presents is conditional on the quality and quantity of good things you have done over the past 12 months outweighing the quantity and lack of quality of the bad things you have done in the same 12 months. Lucky for us God is far more gracious.
The gifts we receive from God have very little to do with the quality or quantity of our good or bad deeds. In fact, irrespective of whether we even choose to acknowledge God’s existence he gives us gifts. Each and everyone of us have received the gift of life, we have the sun, and moon and the stars to look at, we receive the gift of the warmth of the sun and the refreshing of the rain, even if that one seems to be doled out a little unevenly at times. And before any of us were born God delivered His ultimate gift to a couple of young teenagers in a stable in a backwater of the Roman Empire and trusted them to nurture and care for it until it was ready to be shared with the entire world. Indeed, each Christmas we remember the arrival of the gift that is Jesus, the baby who grew into the man who would die in order for us to be restored into a right relationship with God. We received this gift long before we were even capable of distinguishing right from wrong, with God’s full knowledge that some of us will choose wrong. When we choose to follow Jesus we receive the gift of eternal life, a life spent in relationship with God. This gift surpasses anything that might be stuffed into a stocking hung by any chimney in the world with care.
So yes, God and Santa are similar. Not everyone believes in them, they both have lists, they both give presents and they both know what we are up to, but God surpasses Santa in every way. So this year, as you put up you tree, as you visit the large jolly man in the red suit and as you search for the perfect gifts to give your loved ones, may you remember that God loves you, that He has some amazing gifts to give you and that His love is not conditional on your goodness, but on His.
I wonder; how often do we confuse God with Santa Claus??
I mean, there are some aspects of God that sort of overlap with our understanding of Santa. For instance, we know that God knows our every move. In Psalm 139 David tells us of God: O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. While Santa may know when we are sleeping or awake, God knows far, far more about us, probably even more than we think we know about ourselves.
And while Santa may know when our behaviour has been good or bad, the psalm tells us that God even knows our thoughts, both the good ones, and the bad ones.
And like Santa God has a list. The bible tells us that the Book of Life contains the names of all of those who believe in and follow Jesus. Revelation tells us of those who choose to follow Jesus: “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” God knows us, he knows all about us, he even records our names in the book of life when we chose to follow Jesus, but unlike Santa, God keeps no record of our wrongs. Unlike Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, there is no naughty list in heaven. When writing 1 Corinthians Paul spoke of the unconditional nature of love, and how true love keeps no record of wrongs. In Isaiah God tells us of Himself; "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
And so while Santa may be able to tell us what we have done wrong and why we are on the naughty list, God neither keeps a naughty list nor does he remember what we might have done to qualify us for the naughty list.
On December 24th each year billions of children go to bed and lie awake for hours in anticipation of the arrival of the large jolly man in the red suit, Santa, who brings with him a red sack transported by 9 reindeer, one of which has an extraordinarily shiny nose. This red sack hopefully contains the toys that were on a list that was sent to Santa many weeks, even months before. The receipt of these presents is conditional on the quality and quantity of good things you have done over the past 12 months outweighing the quantity and lack of quality of the bad things you have done in the same 12 months. Lucky for us God is far more gracious.
The gifts we receive from God have very little to do with the quality or quantity of our good or bad deeds. In fact, irrespective of whether we even choose to acknowledge God’s existence he gives us gifts. Each and everyone of us have received the gift of life, we have the sun, and moon and the stars to look at, we receive the gift of the warmth of the sun and the refreshing of the rain, even if that one seems to be doled out a little unevenly at times. And before any of us were born God delivered His ultimate gift to a couple of young teenagers in a stable in a backwater of the Roman Empire and trusted them to nurture and care for it until it was ready to be shared with the entire world. Indeed, each Christmas we remember the arrival of the gift that is Jesus, the baby who grew into the man who would die in order for us to be restored into a right relationship with God. We received this gift long before we were even capable of distinguishing right from wrong, with God’s full knowledge that some of us will choose wrong. When we choose to follow Jesus we receive the gift of eternal life, a life spent in relationship with God. This gift surpasses anything that might be stuffed into a stocking hung by any chimney in the world with care.
So yes, God and Santa are similar. Not everyone believes in them, they both have lists, they both give presents and they both know what we are up to, but God surpasses Santa in every way. So this year, as you put up you tree, as you visit the large jolly man in the red suit and as you search for the perfect gifts to give your loved ones, may you remember that God loves you, that He has some amazing gifts to give you and that His love is not conditional on your goodness, but on His.
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