God Is... Justice

By Nick (My Experience As...)

But that's not fair!

At face value, it seems like kids are preloaded with a concept of who God is and all the attributes of God.  In fact, CS Lewis suggests that the universal morality is proof of God’s existence.  This isn’t to say that all people have the same moral values, but rather that we can make statements of “wrongness” because there is a predefined morality that we appeal to.  Something generally instinctive that we simple know to be true.  Hitler was a bad guy.  Sure some folks would argue against this, but generally most can appeal to the wrongness of what he did based on the Universal Morality that trying to exterminate others is wrong.  The proof is much more involved than this, but it is a very interesting thing to be aware of when folks try to argue against the existence of God because “If God existed He wouldn’t let bad things happen.”  Basically this proof comes back and says “If you believe there are bad things then God must exist.”

I digress; along with the general idea of morality we have the best friend to morality, justice, built into us.  From a very early age we generally know right and wrong, and clue in on consequences. That is, my two year old knows when I say, “put that down,” and he responds, “NO!” that there will be consequences.  It is based on his past experience. At some point his little brain will catch up and decide yelling no isn’t a good thing.

This evolves into the most basic sense of justice, that which is fair.  This is one of those self evident truths, justice must be fair, it cannot show favoritism, and when it does it isn’t really justice. How many times have children cried out “but that’s not fair.” This is their internal justice meter going off.  Of course therein lays the problem.  It has been corrupted by a sense of self. It affects me in a way I don’t want so it cannot be fair.

This is the greatest problem a parent faces in helping the internal sense of justice develop correctly. It is part of our job. Just like making sure our children grow strong and healthy with good food, exercise, and education. We must also help finish the development of justice in our children so that they will recognize injustice apart from self, and then be moved to deal with it.

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Leftovers

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

Launching the Shop-Not Project felt good. When I embarked on my year-long hiatus from shopping last September, I felt noble…until a few months into it, that is, when I realized the flaw in my plan:

I was giving God the leftovers.

The Shop-Not Project works like this: My husband and I agree on a monthly personal cash allotment for each of us. I don’t spend any of that cash on clothes, jewelry, shoes, makeup or accessories – I don’t shop for any personal items for twelve months. At the end of each month, I take what’s left from my personal cash and tuck it into the envelope marked “Shop-Not Money.” At the end of the year, I donate what’s been saved to Compassion.

Sounds like the perfect plan, right? Like I said, noble and good. But read that second to last sentence again: At the end of each month, I take what’s left from my personal cash…

I take what’s leftover and give it to God. 

What I give to God depends on my spending habits for the month  – how many times I eat dinner out with friends, how many “necessary” items I purchase for home décor, how many low-fat grande mochas I sip. Some months I give most of my personal allotment to God; some months only $10 or $20. One month I gave nothing at all.

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Hope!

By Pat

A friend of mine is currently going through a very difficult time in his life. His burdens are heavy, his responsibilites are great, and his once strong faith has faded. His joy is gone. He is finding himself in a place where each of us at some point has been. He is in a spiritual drought. He is presently "going through the motions."

What do we do at these times? Giving up on God would be the easy thing-but God never said life would be easy, did He? In fact, if you look at the Biblical heroes, you see that each of them became mightier in God's kingdom through trial and adversity.

Psalm 100:2 tells us to "worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs," and verse 4 says to "enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." But how do we worship with gladness and sing joyfully when our hearts feel so full of darkness, worry and despair? That's when we feel ourselves going through the motions. We praise, we worship, but our hearts aren't really in it. It's at those times we need to cling desperately to our life-preserver, Jesus, and His promise of hope.

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God Is... Holy, Holy. Holy!

By Jason V

I remember my Uncle Howard's collection of walking sticks.  He had been a world traveller and had collected walking sticks from all over the world.  If we asked nicely, he might show them to us, but we were not allowed to touch them under any circumstances.  They were special, set apart, reserved for his use alone.  They were, in a sense, "holy."

Did you grow up with "holy" things in your life- things that were set apart for a special use, better than common, reserved for certain people or certain occasions?  We just moved from Maryland to South Carolina this week.  In a special box, packed very carefully and handled with special attention was the 110-year-old mantle clock my school gave me as a parting present.  It has become, in this sense, a "holy" object in our household.

These things are, of course, only "holy" in a very limited sense of the word.  To be truly holy, something must be set apart by God for God's purposes, reserved for His use and for His glory.  In this was, the tabernacle and the temple were known as holy places.  When Moses saw God in the burning bush, the Lord called to him and told him to take off his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground, ground that was now made holy by the presence of God.  Later, the Israelites would return and worship God on that same mountain, Mount Sinai, where God would give His Ten Commandments, His holy law.

So, if something is holy because God sets it apart and reserves it from common use for His special use, then what does it mean for God to be holy?  Well, to begin our understanding of this, we need to know two things: First, God is not just holy.  He is Holy, Holy, Holy.  This is what the angels around His throne cry out day and night for all eternity- "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord!"  This emphasis teaches us that God is not just holy in the sense that other things are holy, but He is the source of all holiness, the One who makes things holy. 

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Fingerprint Friday: Warm Days and Sunsets

By Ginny (MAD21)

Last week we got a reprieve from the cold temperatures winter brings. It got up to 74. We love snow and all, but at this point in the season having one warm day is like getting one bite of a yummy dessert, it makes you long for more. So on this day we decided to play hooky from all of our family responsibilities after school and headed to the playground. We stayed until God graced us with this amazing sunset (one of his most obvious fingerprints). Reminding us that in the midst of winter, there is hope for what is to come.

Fellow blogger Beki at The Rusted Chain has a really great weekly post she does every Friday called "Fingerprint Friday." We are to look around and see where we can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Anywhere? Go find out where Beki saw God this week, and be sure to check out the other bloggers who linked their stories as well.