I was in a hurry, we had spent too much time in the Faculty club. I had to get him to the Airport, and me back to class. I heard the siren and pulled over. - “You were speeding sir”. - 'Yes'. - “What?” - 'Yes I was speeding'. - “Go on, get out of here”. - When I got back in the car, I told my friend “That is what I want when I die”. - 'What?' he asked. - “Mercy, not justice”. What about you, what do you want/expect?
If there is a heaven (and I assure you there is), it has to be different from down here. I mean if we get there, we will be there for ever and ever and ever. John Newton's definition of infinity 'When we've been there 10,000 years .. we've no less days, to sing God's praise!'
In light of this, how much manipulation, would you want there, how many cutting remarks, how much rejection, anger, exclusion, selfishness, mean spiritedness, put downs, one upmanship, how many bad days, how much grief, pollution, unforgiveness? Well you get the point. If Heaven is to be heaven these things cannot be there, and that excludes you and me as we are. No question.
Now He is working on me (if you think I am bad now, you should have seen me before He stared – well maybe not), but there will still need to be a radical change on that day. The good news is that He has provided the way. In His love and wisdom, at incredible cost to Himself (that is what the Cross is all about), He paid the price to justly forgive us. We do, of course, need to come to Him in the right spirit to be forgiven. Its called repentance. When we do this, as part of the package, we give Him permission to change us to be fit for heaven. If and when we see this, and understand that regardless, we will have to give an account, we will surly choose mercy over justice.
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It may be just a nit, but Heaven will be down here. It's just that "down here" will be a Heaven of a lot better than "down here" is now! :-)
ReplyDeleteNot to detract from the absolute need to come clean before God -- I would not be quick to answer "Yes" to the claim that I was speeding, or to the question of whether I was speeding (or the tricky "did you know that you were speeding"), unless I was pretty sure that I was. Even then, I might not (although that raises other issues).
ReplyDeleteA "yes" can turn a stop for suspicion but no evidence into a conviction based on nothing other than the confession. A noncommital but sincere "oh dear" may earn mercy, without opening the door to punishment and inviting her in. Heavenly justice cannot be evaded, and you may have to pay for the speeding sometime, but obedience to God does not always require frank confession to an earthly magistrate.
Or so I say! It is off your main point, and you may choose (r)ebut (a)gree (i)gnore -- like the old DOS error message. In any case, be forewarned: it is my calling to be a Devil's Advocate!
This risks pulling the thread in a different direction, but with an new blog perhaps any discussion is good discussion (as long as it is good discussion, if you know what I mean.)
ReplyDeleteThere really is something about not confessing, or even talking, to the police... I am not saying it is always, often, or never right, but this video (about 50 minutes in two parts) makes me pause. The speakers are well credentialed, and seem motivated by something other than "this is how you get away with it." It invites Christian reflection, in a way that is not entirely foreign to your main point. Thoughts?
I remember now, it was my brother who was speeding:)
ReplyDeleteThis comment is so that you can see the comments above - I accidentally removed them
ReplyDelete