Don't You (Forget About Me)

And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?
Luke 18:7

What is justice?  This parable does not go into detail regarding what receiving justice meant for the widow who was pestering the “Unjust Judge”, only that he would make certain that she received it.  To answer my previous question, to receive justice is to receive that which is rightfully yours.  Given this definition, as a child of God what is rightfully yours?  Do You have the right to ask God to act as a genie, ready to do your bidding?  Do you have the right to be delivered from the hands of your enemies?  Do you have the right to live a long and fulfilling life on this earth?  No, you don't have the right to any of these things.  You do however have a right to receive one thing, death.

Suddenly, this verse does not sound so great.  In fact, I would just as soon not avail myself of this right any time soon.  As I have alluded to before, God's justice is not one of His attributes that is pleasant to dwell on.  Incredibly, God gives us a choice.  We can choose to be judged on our own merits, taking the consequences of our actions on ourselves or, option 2, we can choose to be judged on the merits of Jesus Christ, God's own beloved son.  Even more difficult to believe is the fact that though He was innocent, Jesus has already borne the consequences of our sin and lawlessness by dying a cruel death.

Clearly, demanding and receiving “Justice” is not the central point of this verse.  The most important point seems to be the fact that we are “His chosen ones” and that we should be calling on God at all times.  Though it is not necessarily just from His point of view, God wants us to bring our requests to Him.  God wants to hear so much more than just requests though.  If we correctly recognize our relationship to God, we should bring to Him not just our requests, but also our praise, thanksgiving and worship.

I may be wrong, but I believe that many of those who call themselves Christians, like me, possess prayer lives that are heavily biased towards requests.  This is not an unexpected state of affairs, as our problems often seem immediate while we are tempted to think of God as something that is remote.  This could not be further from the truth; the moment you truly seek Him, God is there.  God promises us that we will find Him when we see Him with all our hearts.  I pray that everyone who reads these words, myself included will seek God in this way.