THE JUSTiCE SONG

Justice is such an interesting word. We hear it in politics, in pop culture, even in our churches. But I think Christians have always had a unique relationship with it.

Our God sees the world—sees us—and recognizes our brokenness. And we can’t escape the truth that we— humanity— had everything to do with that brokenness. If justice simply meant getting what you deserve, then I think we’d all be in trouble.

But the justice I find in Scripture is almost a paradox. God’s justice is both what you deserve and what you don’t deserve, all at once. It is judgment and grace together. We are utterly broken people, yet through Jesus, somehow capable of the greatest good. And Jesus is always inviting us to join Him on the side of that good. There’s a verse in the Bible that says it’s God’s goodness that leads us to repentance, and I think about that a lot.

My whole life I’ve wrestled with these questions: Why didn’t my birth family want me? Why didn’t my father fight for me? Why didn’t my grandparents claim me? None of it felt just. None of it felt right. What had I done to deserve their rejection?

And yet, at the very same time, God’s goodness was already writing another story. God’s goodness had inspired a young European couple to give 27 years of their lives to a continent they had never known, to learn cultures and languages they had never spoken, to love a people they had never met. And when the knock came on their door about a little baby—unwanted, rejected, alone—it was God’s goodness that led them to say yes. Yes, we will take him. Yes, we will love him. Yes, we will raise him to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

It was God’s goodness that did that. And that’s something I’ll never get over.