2 AM thoughts on j u s t i c e

I'm thankful that I get to go to a school full of students who are SO passionate about social justice. Fighting injustice. Seeking peace. Active, not passive.

This part of Brown's culture has catalyzed my own thoughts about good and evil, about justice and injustice. 

Here are my 2 AM ('cuz orgo > sleep...) thoughts that I typed on my iPhone: 

God is a God of justice
He is perfect in every way: in His love, in His mercy, in His forgiveness.
And He is also perfect in His justice.

We cry out against any injustice or wrongdoing or pain or suffering we see.
I absolutely admire how students at Brown especially in particular are so active and engaged and motivated and determined, especially in the realm of justice.

Today I had been sitting in the TWC ("Third World Center") for our Filipino Alliance Senior Send-off / food eating party. Looking up at the wall before me, I see posters of cultural groups and raising awareness and advocating for freedom. For example, the Black history month poster says "none of us are free until all of us are free: embracing our common humanity".

I want all the slaves and the wrongfully imprisoned and the persecuted and the politically chained and the dignity-stripped and the oppressed to be free.

I also want people to know that God says we can be free in Him. 

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. +2 Corinthians 3:17

Freedom from my own selfishness. Freedom from the judgment of others. Freedom from sin. Freedom to be brave. Freedom to move mountains. Freedom to love others like God does.

That, my friends, is true freedom.

Anyway I digress but the whole point I'm trying to say is, if we want justice now for so many things, how much more does God want justice and is perfect in His justice.

That's why as sinners we can't go to heaven to be with God on our own accord, out of our own will. We can't be good enough. Can't earn our way to heaven.

That's why God, in His perfect love, came down to rescue us. Can you believe it? Jesus wiped away my sins, forgave me, died and rose from the dead just so we could believe and go to heaven.

A clean slate. 

Maybe people wonder why the world is so bad and there's so much suffering: it's our fault because we are sinners. Through Adam and Eve's rebellion, sin first entered the world. But God came to save us. He didn't have to at all, but He did because He loves us.
Maybe people wonder, why can't everyone go to heaven? I don't know for sure (we don't know everything about God!) but God's Word, the Bible, says that anyone who believes in Christ will go to heaven. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. +John 3:16

We have to be cleansed of our sins first before meeting God---who is perfect and holy and awesome in every way--face to face.
That's why Christ came to save us.
Amazing!!!!