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 all 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 somehow inextricably linked to His goodness. 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 come and 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 the question of why didn’t my birth family want me? Why did they give me up? My mother died in childbirth with me and they blamed me for her death. I suppose somehow in their mind, that was the justice that I deserved. The thing is, that’s not justice. That’s not goodness. They were simply acting out a role that had been handed down to them through cultural norms and traditions.

But even in the midst of such tragedy and abandonment, 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, abandoned - 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.