Is it possible that justice and mercy can be the same thing?  Justice is making things right, giving people what they deserve for wrongs they have committed.  But does that fully repay the victim?  Don’t they still experience the loss?

If the offender is given another chance, is that true mercy?  Won’t the victim feel slighted, with no closure? And are there certain crimes that don’t deserve another chance?  I wonder how the justice of man compares to the justice of God.  We can certainly agree on the fact that God searches the heart and would know if the transgressor is truly repentant.  God could tell if he or she would not repeat the crime.

God’s fire is often shown to be his judgement.  It can consume, or it can torture.  It can warm, or it can burn away impurities.  How does that relate to our salvation?  Or to our sanctification?  Is the death of Christ for our sins the final measure of his perfect justice?  Does God’s justice bring death and life?

It seems that God should hold us all accountable for not only what we’ve done in these bodies, but where our minds are in relation to him and those around us.  And where does love fit in?  Can God love us even after we’ve picked the wrong interpretation of his justice?

Let God be true, and every man a liar.  (Romans 3:4)

The two terms are tossed around quite freely by both preacher and teacher in modern-day Christianity.  But what do they really mean?  And how do they affect us? Let’s first look at the definitions given by Dictionary.com:

grace – favor or good will     (NOTE:  Dictionary.com also defines grace as mercy.)

mercy – compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender or enemy.

From teen-hood I was taught that grace was God giving us good things we don’t deserve, and mercy was God not giving us the punishment that we do deserve.  In the gospel scenario God shows us “mercy” by allowing his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.  We are told that our disobedience to God (our sin) separates us from Him, condemning us to eternal torture in Hell.  Because he loves us, he gives us his “grace” by letting Christ take our place (not in Hell) as a once-and-for-all sacrifice that will, in the Old Testament tradition, turn away God’s wrath.  With this marvelous (?) method of salvation, God will remember our sins no more — even those we are yet to commit.  Sweet deal, right?

The only redeeming ticket that will get you this grace is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and make him Lord of your life.  And you have to really, really mean it, or many will assume that your salvation wasn’t genuine or, as my dad used to say, “It didn’t take the first time.”  There are some believers (actually more than we might think) who, after many years, begin to live like the Devil again, and you would never know that they were “saved.”  They are either backsliders (salvation still good; they just need to be disciplined and brought back into the fold) or “it didn’t take the first time.”

Well, here I go.  Newsflash!  Jesus never spoke the word “grace,” and he never specifically addressed the accepted plan of salvation that would bring us God’s grace.

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Matthew 10:7  The kingdom of heaven is near.

Mark 1:15  The kingdom of God is near.

A friend and I were recently discussing where we are in relation to our walk with Christ and our relationship with God.  We know we live in this world, which is made up of kingdoms.  They may be run by dictators, presidents, congresses or parliaments, but it is a kingdom nonetheless.  Like it or not, we are subjects of them.

Jesus introduced the concept of a new kingdom, or at least a different kingdom.  The gospel writer Matthew exclusively quoted Jesus as saying the kingdom of heaven, while the other gospels refer to the kingdom of God.  Jesus prayed to God, “your kingdom come, your will be done.” (Matthew 6:10)  He once told the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)  The kingdom of God was inside the Pharisees? Really?  Look it up. When questioned by Pontius Pilate, Jesus responded with, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  (John 18:36)

So, do we have a kingdom here, a kingdom there (heaven), or a kingdom everywhere?

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We have a new president in the U.S., and I’ve been watching closely his actions the first couple of weeks in office.  Even though I didn’t vote for him, I certainly don’t want him to fail, because if the country loses, I lose.  I have observed, however, two thrusts of rhetoric right out of the starting gate.  One is a boasting of change (a campaign promise), supported by an immediate reversal of any administration policy set in place by the former “dreaded” Republican president.  Second is a complaint against partisan politics, like we didn’t have the same problem with the Democratic Congress under a Republican president.

Then I got to thinking how the many denominations within Christianity practice party politics for the sake of doctrine.  Unlike Congress the churches across denominational lines don’t have a corporate mandate to form a unified church.  Maybe they should. What if they set as their goal a willingness to examine what they believe and consider how it would benefit the nation (and world) for them to find and strengthen their common ground?

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When I arrived at a local business the other day, I greeted a friend of mine who works there with “Happy Holidays!”  Another employee walking up, having heard me, looked straight at my friend and said, “That’s just a fancy way of saying, ‘Merry Christmas.’”  I was in a hurry, so I didn’t engage in what could have been an interesting conversation.  But I felt that I had been gently rebuked by someone who probably thought that I wasn’t a Christian.

While I’m not certain of the underlying reason for his response, I’m well aware of the Christian Christmas politicking that we’ve come to expect this time of the year.  Down with Santa.  Up with the Baby Jesus.  Be openly offended by Merry Xmas, because the decadent commercialists have purposely taken Christ out of Christmas (even though there seem to be plenty of presents under that tree).  Like the sudden increase in police patrols seeking holiday drunks, churchgoers also beef up their yuletide protocol patrols.

How do I know this is happening?  Just count the number of coroplast yard signs that shout We Still Say Merry Christmas.

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