Justice

Television shows about persons seeking justice seem quite popular. There are shows like “Judge Judy”, “Justice for All”, “People’s Court”, “Divorce Court, etc. Just watching those shows makes us realize that obtaining justice is not always easy, nor even guaranteed.  

The Bible gives many examples of judgment situations, for example:

·      Solomon being asked to decide who is the mother of a baby (I Kings 3:16-28). Solomon’s wise decision: Cut the baby in two and give each woman half.

·      The case of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-8). The judgment: Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Romans 14:11-12 cautions: “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another.”

But in John 12:46-47 Jesus says: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”

After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension He is still doing an important work in Heaven for us. While Satan is accusing us, pointing out our sins before God, Jesus is our Advocate – pleading our case before the Father and defeating the accuser. While this is not an encouragement to persist in sin, we need not be fearful to appear before God, for Jesus paid our sin debt by His death on the cross, and God sees in His children the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

Finally, “Judgment today is often seen as cold and harshly legal. But in the biblical sense, judgment is something for God’s people to look forward to. It is a time that all the wrongs of earth will be made right. If there is no judgment at the end, there will never be any justice in this world” (SDA Adult SS Lesson 10 – Qtr. 1 2019 – Teacher’s Comments).

#Look-alike

In the animal world, there are some babies who look exactly like their parents. Take the picture below for instance. The baby looks like a dog, walks like a dog, and barks like a dog, so it must be a dog!

Then there are some babies that look nothing like their parents. A good example is a caterpillar. It looks nothing like the adult it is eventually going to be. It does not move the same, and it does not even eat the same!

Among us as humans there are some parents and children who could win look alike contests. The boy in the picture below is the image of his father! Sometimes the child doesn’t even have to be the same gender to look exactly like the parent – like the father and daughter in picture 4. That man certainly does not need a DNA test!

             

On top of all that I am told that married couples eventually begin to look like each other. The man and woman in the picture below almost look like sister and brother rather than husband and wife!

What am I trying to get at here? As Christians, we have accepted Christ as our heavenly father, and have been born anew into the family of God. So why don’t we look like Him? Why don’t we walk like Him? Why don’t we talk like Him? Should persons have to guess who our Father is?  Or should we be such a look-alike of our father that when people see us they can see Christ in us? How else would we be able to prove our unity with Him?

Acknowledgements: Google Images

Deliberations: I am the vine

Growing grapes………An interesting art (or science?). 

Here are some things I learned in my Internet search:

·      Grapes do not like an overly-rich soil. They prefer a less fertile soil and then their roots will grow deep in search of nutrients. Similarly, Jesus did not come to preach the gospel to a well-prepared and righteous people—He came to call sinners to repentance.

·      Grapes need a lot of water on the first planting, but only a little after that. Sounds a bit like us as believers in Christ?  When we were baptized, we felt drenched with the Holy Spirit, but we still need a little watering from the Holy Spirit (our comforter) on a regular basis don’t we?

·      The vines need some type of support, to which they will stay connected. But a single stake won’t do. They need a broad trellis with many sections onto which the vine can hold*.

·      Grapes need regular pruning to produce the best fruits… Is that what our daily trials and discouragements do for us?

·      Pick grapes only when they are ready. They stop ripening after they are picked... We need to learn patience. Only Jesus knows when the persons we are praying for are ready to surrender. Wait on Him to convict their hearts.

*Jesus said “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”. 

We must stay connected to Jesus, and we must provide the broad support each person needs on his/her Christian journey