Justice // Grace // Balance
Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Time heals all wounds.
Distance and time don't always soften wounds. they soften wounds when your heart is willing, but when your heart is unwilling, time and distance creates a kind of hardness only developed through separation. It takes more than time or distance to heal. It takes grace, forgiveness, love. It takes a willing heart. A heart that may even be selfishly pursuing grace in that it brings healing.
I think of those parents who look in the eyes of the people who murdered their children and show them love and forgiveness. I've always wondered, how does someone do that? How can someone forgive something that they should have to forgive. A lot of the time it is the same response: because I needed it. Because I couldn't hold onto that feeling forever. In a show I was watching recently a character had a gun to a drug lord's head and the drug lord said, "go ahead and kill me", but the man lowered his gun and said "I should kill you, but I do not want to become the man I would have to be to kill a man like you". We often see this grace a self-preservation of one's character or moral compass, and not as a pure act of love. But that is just the beginning.
"Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you" This problem is one that has existed forever. We want justice for others and grace for ourselves.
Prayer can hurt because sometimes cleaning the wound hurts more than the pain the wound itself causes. Just thinking about our enemies can cause the ember of anger to glow in our hearts. Forgiving them?! Out of the question! Praying for their good?! Never! But Christ calls us to do just that. He calls us to be forgiving beyond reason and loving beyond what we are asked. He calls us to not just get along with or play nice with, but to love them. To see the best in them. To see them as Christ sees them. He calls us to see the ones we want to hate as God's creation. He wants us to love them. Be patient with them. Be kind to them. Don't keep track of the ways they have wronged us.
What about when it doesn't hurt? When showing grace is easier than allowing justice?. Parenting is a balance of grace and punishments. Children must learn that their actions have consequences and our punishments are intended to help children learn boundaries. Children are not punished for the sake of hurting them or even for justice, but because our punishments are far less severe than the punishments of the real world consequences for our actions. I want my children to know there are consequences to their actions, but I also want them to live in a home full of grace. I want them to know they deserve the punishment for their actions. I want them to also know that they are loved no matter what they do and the choices they make. I want them to know that I do have expectations, but not meeting them is met with disappointment, not less love. I want them to know that I'd rather show them grace. I want them to feel love, not just the love of a parent, but the love of God that overflows. How do I find that balance of punishment for the sake of behavior correction, not justice? How do I teach my children grace if they do not first understand justice? How do I raise God-fearing, God-loving children?
In the same way our "justice system" is not about justice, but also about behavior modification. The intention is to remold our citizens so as to prevent the consequences of real world actions and reactions.
What about pardons? Forgiveness? Second chances? Rehabilitation? How much grace should we show? How many times should we show forgiveness? Seven times? No, seventy times seven. We are called to forgive to point of grace. We are called to show grace: the unreasonable, unexpected, undeserved forgiveness. The forgiveness that hurts a little. The forgiveness that no one expects you to do because it's unreasonable, it's too much to ask.
Obama is granting the last clemency of his tenure as president. A lot of people are asking where is the justice? Good, God-fearing people who think that our justice system is broken. And if justice is our end goal, it is. But I do not want to live in a just world. I want to live in a world full of healing and grace and rehabilitation. I want our consequences to be about changing hearts not justice. What do we do if horrible people are punished, but not encouraged to change, what good are we doing them? What good are we doing for society?
Distance and time don't always soften wounds. they soften wounds when your heart is willing, but when your heart is unwilling, time and distance creates a kind of hardness only developed through separation. It takes more than time or distance to heal. It takes grace, forgiveness, love. It takes a willing heart. A heart that may even be selfishly pursuing grace in that it brings healing.
I think of those parents who look in the eyes of the people who murdered their children and show them love and forgiveness. I've always wondered, how does someone do that? How can someone forgive something that they should have to forgive. A lot of the time it is the same response: because I needed it. Because I couldn't hold onto that feeling forever. In a show I was watching recently a character had a gun to a drug lord's head and the drug lord said, "go ahead and kill me", but the man lowered his gun and said "I should kill you, but I do not want to become the man I would have to be to kill a man like you". We often see this grace a self-preservation of one's character or moral compass, and not as a pure act of love. But that is just the beginning.
"Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you" This problem is one that has existed forever. We want justice for others and grace for ourselves.
Prayer can hurt because sometimes cleaning the wound hurts more than the pain the wound itself causes. Just thinking about our enemies can cause the ember of anger to glow in our hearts. Forgiving them?! Out of the question! Praying for their good?! Never! But Christ calls us to do just that. He calls us to be forgiving beyond reason and loving beyond what we are asked. He calls us to not just get along with or play nice with, but to love them. To see the best in them. To see them as Christ sees them. He calls us to see the ones we want to hate as God's creation. He wants us to love them. Be patient with them. Be kind to them. Don't keep track of the ways they have wronged us.
What about when it doesn't hurt? When showing grace is easier than allowing justice?. Parenting is a balance of grace and punishments. Children must learn that their actions have consequences and our punishments are intended to help children learn boundaries. Children are not punished for the sake of hurting them or even for justice, but because our punishments are far less severe than the punishments of the real world consequences for our actions. I want my children to know there are consequences to their actions, but I also want them to live in a home full of grace. I want them to know they deserve the punishment for their actions. I want them to also know that they are loved no matter what they do and the choices they make. I want them to know that I do have expectations, but not meeting them is met with disappointment, not less love. I want them to know that I'd rather show them grace. I want them to feel love, not just the love of a parent, but the love of God that overflows. How do I find that balance of punishment for the sake of behavior correction, not justice? How do I teach my children grace if they do not first understand justice? How do I raise God-fearing, God-loving children?
In the same way our "justice system" is not about justice, but also about behavior modification. The intention is to remold our citizens so as to prevent the consequences of real world actions and reactions.
What about pardons? Forgiveness? Second chances? Rehabilitation? How much grace should we show? How many times should we show forgiveness? Seven times? No, seventy times seven. We are called to forgive to point of grace. We are called to show grace: the unreasonable, unexpected, undeserved forgiveness. The forgiveness that hurts a little. The forgiveness that no one expects you to do because it's unreasonable, it's too much to ask.
Obama is granting the last clemency of his tenure as president. A lot of people are asking where is the justice? Good, God-fearing people who think that our justice system is broken. And if justice is our end goal, it is. But I do not want to live in a just world. I want to live in a world full of healing and grace and rehabilitation. I want our consequences to be about changing hearts not justice. What do we do if horrible people are punished, but not encouraged to change, what good are we doing them? What good are we doing for society?
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