I recently heard a speaker, I’m not really sure where. He said “Don’t ever pray for justice.” I went back to my morning prayer list…….and there it was……a prayer for justice. My first reaction was that this guy is nuts………justice is a good thing…….a great goal. But then I thought about it for a bit. I realized that when I pray for “justice” what I am usually praying is for something good for me……….and a lightning bolt for the other guy. What I am praying for is my brand of justice……reward for me and revenge against the other guy. God’s will……..God’s justice is far from my mind.
If we make an honest searching inventory of the bad things that we have done……..and that would include every act in our lives that wasn’t love centered……..we would have to conclude that if there was true justice…….God’s justice, each of us would have been reduced to a smoking smudge on the turf a long time ago.
But, you say, I’ve done a lot of good. On average, if you add it all up, I’m a pretty good person…….and I’m way better than (fill in the blank). The trouble is that when you talk about justice, the good thing that you did last week won’t get you out of today’s speeding ticket. The fact that you were just passed by somebody going even faster won’t help either. In a completely just world, each act is rewarded or punished on it’s own merits. Each act is weighed on God’s spectrum of righteousness……..and that means that we are in big trouble. We just aren’t ready for justice……..and we never will be. The speaker was right. If we pray for justice…..and God if answers that prayer…….then there will be nothing left but a couple of billion little scorched spots.
I dropped the prayer for justice from my prayer list. In its place, I am reminded of the “Prayer of Jabez”
“bless me indeed and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from the evil one”
Jabez, NIV
This is, at its heart, a prayer for blessing and for mercy.
So instead of praying for justice, I added a prayer for mercy. This changes the entire focus of the prayer……..now rather that praying for God to zap the other guy for his misdeeds, I am praying for God to forgive me for mine. I am still trying to level the field; not by taking down the other guy but rather by changing my behaviour. I am focusing on improving myself rather than wrecking the other guy. This seems a lot more in line with the command to love others.
Focus not on punishment for the other guy but on forgiveness for yourself.
Focus not on the crimes of others but rather on your own failures. After all the only thing that you can control…….is what you do.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Paul, NIV