JAMES 2:13

Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

TO PONDER

For those of you who joined us for our service on Sunday morning in Newcastle, you might be thinking, "these words of James sound awfully familiar". This is because James is trying to communicate the same reality that we talked about.

See most of us have a pretty good 'fairness' detector built in. It comes standard with every model. However, the fairness detectors are often not calibrated properly, they always have a bias. The are biased towards self. We can identify almost immediately when someone has wronged or hurt us and treated us unfairly and in those cases are often quick to point out the fact and to begin the quest for justice. To ensure that what was done wrong is somehow put right. Sometimes we are satisfied with a simple acknowledgement of guilt and apology, other times nothing short of a life long jail sentence seems appropriate to satisfy out desire for justice.

Justice is not a bad thing - that's not what James is saying. Justice, when applied correctly, seeks to restore what has been broken, property, trust, relationship. To seek to make amends or restitution when we have wronged someone is the right thing to do. However, sometimes our expectation of what the repayment or restitution for a particular wrong against us might be can get a bit out go hand and disproportionate.

The problem is that we usually seek justice from others while wanting or expecting mercy for ourselves. When we know that someone has done something wrong - sometimes even when it's not against us - we demand justice. We shout with the rest of our community, "They should pay for what they have done." However when we know that we have wronged or hurt someone, don't we hope that they will be merciful and understanding and be gracious enough to forgive us?

James is warning us that while being a 'social justice warrior' might be one thing, doing it without being prepared also to show mercy to those who have perhaps committed wrong - even severe ones - is a dangerous game and has a tendency to come full circle.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I know that you are the only one worthy to proclaim judgement, justice and mercy. Please remind me today of the mercy I have freely received through your death and resurrection and help me to extend mercy to others when I feel hurt or wronged by them. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle