What Would You Choose: Justice versus Grace?

Looking at all the horrible events going on in the world right now makes me angry.  I am disgusted by the absolute insensitivity that people are pouring out on others.  I look out and see people dumping shovels full of fresh cow shit on the heads of their neighbors.  If you look different you are condemned.  If you act different you are condemned.  If you believe different you are condemned.  And each act of judgment is another shovel full of cow shit dumped out on the head of someone else.

You know, there really is no other way to say it.  I apologize for the language but I have spent my whole life around cows and I know shit.  I have stepped in it; I have shoveled it; and I have had the unfortunate opportunity to taste it.  So I know it well.  And what I see people in this world handing out is nasty, smelly, shit; a waste by-product intended to cause harm and humiliation.

Think about all the wars going on right now in our world: Christians versus Muslims versus Jews; Republicans versus Democrats; Straights versus Gays; Creationists versus Evolutionists; and of course Real Musicians versus Justin Bieber.  And in all of them I see nothing but a bunch of selfish idiots standing in a cow field with shovels.  Well, maybe the anti-Bieber folks are right, but the rest of us are throwing cow shit.

And why do we go to war?  What do we have to gain from warring with our neighbors?

I do believe that we can find truth in this world.  I do believe there is right and wrong.  And if I am honest I would tell you that what I believe is absolute truth and if you disagree with me then you are wrong.  Really, I am that selfish.  But why do I go to war with you over what I believe?  Why must I let what I believe get in the way of us sharing life together.  There is something deep there that is at work against us.

It could be pride at work.  It could be arrogance rising up.  It could be brokenness raging inside.  More than likely it is a combination of these and many other issues.  But I know my rage, and I know where it comes from.

Every one of us is broken and wounded.  There is no escaping this in our fallen world.  The curse is real, and we have been bit by the snake tempting us with the apple.  And how does a broken wounded child react?  With a screaming rage that causes everyone in the store to turn their heads to see who the parents of this tantrum throwing child is. 

You know the scene.  You are in the grocery store and you turn the corner to go down the cereal aisle and there you see lying on the floor a red-faced, three year old, kicking the tile and screaming out how horrible the offense is being committed against them.  And my favorite ending is when the Mom or Dad bends down to the child and asks calmly, “Where are your parents?”  Then they grab the cart and race away while the stunned child looks up in disbelief.  

But that is how it is in most of these world wars.  The child wants Fruit Loops, and the parent is only willing to buy Cheerios.  And they are not even willing to buy the name brand cereal; they buy generic.  We want everyone to look like us; act like us; believe like us; and if they don’t, then we react like that offended child.  The child wants everyone else to be hurt and wounded just as they feel inside.  The child demands justice for their wounds.

I want it.  I demand it.  I see someone getting a raise they didn't earn; I want justice.  I see someone getting a new house, or a new car that I can’t afford; I want justice.  I see someone abusing a child and I want justice.  I see someone humiliating another and I want justice.  The rage inside me explodes and I scream out to be heard.  Aren't we all like that at times?

But how can you choose to live a life of justice?  Always calling for and seeking to see those who have what you want, those that rape and murder, those who steal and torture come to pay for the wounding of your heart.  To do so means you must live according to the law.  Nothing less is possible.  Nothing less than perfection and holiness is permissible.  To live a life of justice means that you must be just yourself.  Because if you are not just, you are condemned as a hypocrite.  To be the one to call for the vengeance of God to rain down on the masses who sin means that you must be more Godly than the Creator of the universe.  

Who of us can stand in that place?  We are all hypocrites.  We are all impostors.  And do you realize that to try to stand in that place shows an arrogance that is as great as the arrogance of lucifer himself.  Remember that to call for the vengeance of God to rain on the unjust is to call for that horrible vengeance to rain upon your own head.  So what then is our choice?

To live in the realm of grace is our only hope.  There we don't have to be perfect.  In this realm we don't have to be healed.  We can walk through this world showing grace to ourselves and grace to others.  In this realm we come to understand that everyone on this rock is in the same condition.  We can all be walking wounded.  Our scars can be badges of honor showing the glorious nature of Jesus who walks with us.  So we are able to seek out and call forth Grace to flood our hearts and the hearts of those in our communities.  We can choose to live a life of love instead of vengeance.  We can live a life of freedom instead of death.

How would our world be different if we washed the feet of those who were different than us?  What peace would we find if instead of seeking justice and separating ourselves from others, we showed them love and invited them to share life?  Our differences are what make us beautiful.  Our scars are a part of our story and that story needs to be told.  We need to stop fearing others and learn to embrace others.  This doesn't mean that you have to give up what you believe.  It means that you don’t let what you believe get in the way of showing the world love.

We have been given the opportunity to live a life of communion.  A life of grace is a life alive.  Yes there is pain, yes there is suffering, but this life is real and full of joy.  A life of justice is really just a zombie life, and those who dwell there are just staggering through the world until their flesh is buried six feet down.

It’s your choice, justice or grace.  It cannot be both.  You can only live in one realm.  So which do you choose?