Love and Justice

Hosea 12:6 But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. (NRSV)

One of the things that holds so many people back from giving their lives over to God, is the guilt that they feel, over all they’ve done wrong.

Question: why did God have to send Jesus to die for us on that cross? If we’ve done something wrong, why can’t we just say, “sorry” and have Him forgive us?

I think that’s a pretty fair question. And the answer lies in the fact that God is both loving and just. Because He loves us beyond words, He wants us to be close to Him for all eternity. But if there is a God, you’d also expect Him to be just. In any half-decent legal system, there has to be a punishment to fit the crime, otherwise it wouldn’t be justice, would it?

God too is just, and that demands that a price be paid for our rebellion, or, let’s call it for what it is, our sin. And yet, God’s love is so great, that He doesn’t want us to live an eternity apart from Him, which is what His punishment looks like.

That’s why He sent us Jesus. And there on that cross, the dilemma of satisfying both God’s love and His justice in dealing with our rebellion, yet still holding us close, that dilemma, is resolved. We have a name for that. We call it … grace.

So no matter what you’ve been through, how badly or how deeply you’ve sinned against God, I believe that today, He is calling you to trust in His grace, through the suffering of Jesus Christ. So listen to this, please listen very, very carefully:

Hosea 12:6 But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. (NRSV)

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

‹ Previous Next ›

Blessed by this devotion?

Share it with a friend!

Dig Deeper

• Forgiveness
• God’s Sovereignty
• Grace
• Jesus
• Love
• Pain & Suffering
• Sin & Repentance