Tensions that Work For Us

Interesting conversation today at Starbucks. Thinking with a friend
about how God works and why i stumbled into this moment of "Ah ha!".
The question, "How can God be punishing people when He is love?"
Then it hit me. There is a tension, a good tension between justice
and mercy. Those can seem juxtaposed, working against each other.
Mercy taken to extremes ends up with nothing matters for in the end
consequences are wiped out. "I can always be forgiven so who
cares." Further in the extreme is the accusation against God, "How
can he love and send people to hell?" No justice means no boundaries
and no reason to change.

No mercy has the opposite effect, not a heart of unconcern but a
heart never at rest and always full of anxiety. No mercy makes us
want to hide, not "confess (tell the truth) so that we can be
forgiven (I John 1:9). No mercy will eventually harden the heart and
stiffen the will.

Justice and mercy seem to lie in tension, especially from our short
view and especially for those frustrated with who God is and how we
has shaped the life. Funny how we can accuse God over decisions that
we make. How can God be at fault for justice? Isn't justice right?
How can we accuse God of anything, even not being loving when we
choose to walk past the offer of forgiveness? Isn't it merciful when
God, knowing we were caught in sin, offered us a way out? And
justice? It's still there. The death of Jesus was the expression of
justice, one man dying for all.

Justice and mercy, two tensions that work for us, two tensions that
keep us in balance, two tensions that take us into the heart of a
perfect and holy God.