Justice, Mercy, and the Transformative Power of Grace.
In a world where we often cry out "It's not fair!", there's a profound spiritual lesson to be learned about justice, mercy, and the transformative power of grace. Our innate sense of justice can sometimes blind us to our own shortcomings, leading us to point fingers at others while overlooking our own faults.
The book of Malachi presents a challenging dialogue between God and His people. The Israelites, facing hardship while surrounding nations prospered, questioned God's justice. "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them," they complained, or "Where is the God of justice?" These questions, while seemingly born from genuine concern, reveal a deeper issue within their hearts.
God's response is both convicting and enlightening: "You have wearied the Lord with your words." This statement serves as a mirror, reflecting our own tendency to demand justice for others while seeking mercy for ourselves. It's a sobering reminder that we often desire a Cost-Free Christianity—all the blessings without the commitment to faithfulness and obedience.
The truth is, every sin we commit is an injustice against God Almighty. It's a step outside His perfect plan for our lives and often an injustice against our fellow human beings. Yet, how quick we are to put God on trial while being outraged when He examines our hearts!
In His wisdom and mercy, God doesn't leave us in this state of hypocrisy. He promises to send two messengers: one to prepare the way, and another to refine and purify His people. These promises find their fulfillment in John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Both came with the same powerful message: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near."
The imagery of refining is both beautiful and terrifying. Like removing impurities from molten metal or washing dirt from clothes, God promises to purify His people. This process, while painful, is not meant for destruction but for restoration. It's a testament to God's commitment to making us beautiful in His sight.
Jesus, the ultimate messenger of the covenant, came with pure faithfulness and full devotion where we could not. He faced the fire of God's refining wrath in our place, offering us a path to purity and righteousness that we could never achieve on our own.
But the story doesn't end there. God also promises judgment, declaring that He will "put you on trial." He will testify against those who practice sorcery, commit adultery, give false testimony, defraud workers, oppress widows and orphans, and deprive foreigners of justice. This promise of judgment offers comfort to those who have been hurt or abused, assuring them that one day, all wrongs will be made right.
Yet, even in the face of this judgment, there's room for repentance and grace. As one woman beautifully expressed after hearing about God's coming judgment, she found comfort in knowing that the person who hurt her would face justice, "unless he repents." This profound statement encapsulates the heart of the gospel—that no one is beyond the reach of God's transforming grace.
The apostle Paul captures this incredible exchange in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." This is the essence of grace—utterly undeserved, completely transformative, and profoundly unfair in the most beautiful way.
When we truly grasp the magnitude of this grace, we're left in awe. It's not fair that Jesus would take all our failings and flaws. It's not fair that He would face the full fury of God's justice in our place. It's not fair that He would give us His purity and righteousness when we don't deserve them. But this unfairness is the very heart of God's love for us. God's grace is unfair in our favor.
For those who have been trying to earn God's forgiveness or prop themselves up with scraps of obedience and on-and-off faithfulness, there's a liberating truth: you can never earn God's forgiveness or deserve His mercy. The law shows us how fallen we are and how incapable we are of making our way back to God on our own. But there is a way—through Jesus Christ.
As we cry out to God, He listens and acts. He removes our sins as far as the East is from the West. He covers us with the perfection and purity of His Son, Jesus Christ. And He plants His Holy Spirit within us to continue His transforming work.
The beautiful thing is, we don't have to clean ourselves up before coming to God. We don't have to pretend we're better than we are. We can come as we are, kneel before the cross of Jesus, acknowledge all He has done for us, and let our lives be changed.
In the Lord's Prayer, we ask for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. If God's perfect will were done to us now, in our sinful state, we would be finished. Yet, in His endless patience and mercy, He waits for us to come to Him and find Jesus, the embodiment of His mercy.
Ultimately, we face a choice: either Jesus faces God's justice in our place, or one day we will. The invitation is clear—will we come to Jesus? Will we experience this transformative grace today?
As we reflect on these profound truths, may we be moved to gratitude for God's unfair grace, humbled by our own need for mercy, and inspired to extend the same grace and mercy to others. In doing so, we participate in God's work of bringing His kingdom to earth, one transformed heart at a time.
Rev. Joshua Ryu
