Morning Devotional
August 3, 2003
“Justice”  
by Don Emmitte

So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness. I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy. In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing what was right. And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:15-23 NLT).

We pride ourselves in America as being a people of justice. Unfortunately, in the name of "justice," some Americans have initiated strange and convoluted lawsuits. Consider the following true cases:

  • At a recent boxing match a fan drank too much, got into a fight, and ultimately fell down a flight of stairs. His family wanted "justice," so they hired a lawyer and sued. Included in their lawsuit was "Ticket Master," the company that sold the man the ticket to the boxing match.
  • Then there was the man who bought a four-seated plane. In order to rig the plane so he could fly it from the back seat, he removed the pilot's seat, along with all its safety equipment. The plane crashed and the man's family sued the company that designed and built it. The family won a million dollars, even though the man altered and deliberately misused the original equipment.
  • In another case a young woman was injured when her fiancee deliberately smashed into her go-cart, as they were finishing up their ride around the track. The court ruled that the young man who actually ran into the woman was 85% responsible, the young woman herself was 14% negligent, and the theme park was 1% involved. However, in the interests of "justice," the theme park was required to pay the entire cash judgment.

Shifting responsibility, blaming others, and expecting someone else to pay for our stupidity is common in today's legal system, but someday we will all stand before a truly righteous judge who will accept no excuse and will tolerate no legal jargon. On judgment day you won't be able to sue anyone or blame anyone else for your own sins. Our reading today is very clear on our personal responsibility before God. But, there is good news too! We can be certain that we will not be condemned to death, as we deserve. Jesus' sacrifice has made grace available to us through faith. Trust in Him today!