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Lead me right ...

Monday, June 22, 2015. How to lead a life which is good and right is one of the old questions of mankind. Over many centuries philosophers have tried to develop virtues and rules. But individual rules are not all …

Quest for justice …

Politics has to shape laws and build up proper structures to ensure they are followed. We have courts and a whole social layer of people who control ethical norms: police, justice departments, training institutions for judges etc etc.

Clearly, righteousness and justice are also personal questions. Humans need the conviction to do right. We want to follow what we believe is good. It is one of the driving forces of mankind: to do what we think needs to be done and should be done. We are all ethics-led, whatever ethics we try to follow. Our ethical ideas can be explicit or implicit, we can be conscious of what we try to do, or just do it and not think much about it!

The bible talks about God, who is the ultimate judge and ultimate ethical authority. He is the creater, he has made it all - and the bible proclaims him as the righteous beginning and end of all life. The song writer of the psalms touches the topic again and again, for example in Psalm 5, where he searches for righteousness, his personal righteousness, but also justice for difficult situations, justice for his enemies:

Refuge and Joy …

1 To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. 3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you1 and watch. 4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. 9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. 10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. 11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. 12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5)

In Christ Jesus God provides an open source of forgiveness. In him, it is possible to gain full justice and righteousness. The New Testament takes up this quest of the Psalms, and their visions, and brings them into full reality in Jesus. When you come to him, to Jesus, you reach the goal of life, you come to the eternal God and his justice! (RWEP) ... more texts