THINK TOGETHER.
How would you define justice?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 28:5. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
Do you know what justice is? Maybe you've heard of the Justice League. A group of superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman who fight for justice. But what is justice?
Yesterday we said that righteousness is knowing what is right and then doing it. Well, justice is connected to righteousness. Justice is doing what is right. We DO justice. God tells us to do be righteous and to do justice.
Micah 6:8. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
God is righteous and God loves justice. The world around us loves justice too. And that's good. But usually the world defines justice as giving someone what they deserve. Good people get good, bad people get bad. That's justice.
But God says that justice is not only about giving people what they deserve, it is also about making people better. We call this "Restorative Justice." Justice that tries to help a person stop doing bad, and start doing good. We might also call it discipline or, in church we call it discipleship.
What if God's justice was only about giving us what we deserve? What do you deserve from God? That's a scary thought isn't it?
But what if God's justice meant that we don't get what we deserve, but instead we get what will make us better when we choose to trust God and receive his Son, Jesus. When we receive Jesus we get all of his love, and all his forgiveness, and even all of his power to do what is right. And that's true justice.
Because of Jesus we don't get what we deserve, we get what makes us better.
With Jesus we can help others be better too.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Make Micah 6:8 a family memory verse.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, thank you for not giving me what I deserve. Thank you for restorative justice that makes me better than I deserve to be. Amen.
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