Fairness Is Not The Standard

Quoting John MacArthur:

Salvation is never a matter of justice; it is always a matter of grace, pure grace. And it always seems curious to me that God seems to be gracious most often to those who seem to be the most undeserving. And so not only does it to some people seem unfair that God chooses some but it seems unfair that He chooses the ones He chooses. For when Jesus came He rejected the religionists and the do-gooders and chose the harlots, the prostitutes, the outcasts, the poor, the social rejects and that’s the plan, not many noble, not many mighty. He’s chosen the base things of this world. And in many cases, in most cases, passed by the mighty, the noble, the religious, and the educated. You really don’t want to try to figure this thing out from the standpoint of is it fair. God did it, that makes it just. God sets the standard of what is just. If you don’t understand what God does, that doesn’t mean He doesn’t live up to your standard, that means your standard doesn’t live up to His standard. He is God.

Elementary Thoughts: Selfishness – Part 9

I suppose there is also a negative side to traditions too. What if you grew up in a family where on Christmas Eve the adults in your family traditionally became drunk and this often resulted in a major family argument on that night? Do you think this might change your feelings toward this particular time of year? You bet it would!

There are many adults who become very tense during this holiday season simply because whenever Christmas rolls around they begin to relive inwardly, and often outwardly, negative family traditions. Did your parents spend more money than they could afford at Christmas which always caused an undercurrent of stress in the household? If they did, chances are that you feel some of that same distress as that holiday draws near.

There are other negative traditions, which may have nothing to do with holidays. Perhaps one or both of your parents have always communicated to you in critical or negative terms. Perhaps they were often harsh and loud when they disagreed with or corrected you. Did conversations with your mom or dad tend to end in traumatic emotional arguments? What was the traditional method in your family for handling disagreements and other problems? As an adult, does your stomach turn in knots as you drive the miles for a visit with your parents? Are your emotions on edge with your own kids as you make final preparations for a family reunion? Most of us have suffered from acts or words that seemed more like a traditional curse in our families. As adults, we often try to resolve these issues by acknowledging that our families were or are “just that way.” This approach is fatalistic at best. It is more often an excuse to justify our own continuation of these sins. It does not acknowledge that we can do something about breaking the negative habits or traditions that are destroying the emotional health of our families.

An important question that parents should ask of themselves, and ask often, is “How do we want our child(ren) to remember us and growing up in our family?” The question may have crossed your mind, but have you ever seriously given it the thought and careful consideration it deserves? Have you ever sat down and took inventory of the special things which are happening in your family which you believe to be important to your children’s well being? Are there positive traditions in your family, which impress upon your children the sense of belonging and the stability of values that we all so desperately need? If not, then I challenge you to do something about it.

Make for yourself a quiet time during your busy schedule when you can avoid being interrupted for a couple of hours. On a sheet of paper begin to write down the special things you would like to do with your children before they grow up and leave home. What special memories of your family life do you want them to have?

Too often today we think that anything special has to involve a lot of money. Yet, the memories that will be important are the ones that will involve your child’s growing in his or her relationship with you. The emphasis in planning your special times together should be on the word “together.” You must remember to implement your plans quickly or the time will slip through your fingers and the only memories you or your children will have are “I wish we had’s.” (Continued tomorrow)

Remarketing Failure

Quoting Oliver North:

“These decisions — that government, not the free market, shall dictate who runs a private corporation, what that corporation shall make or sell, and what it shall pay its employees — are unprecedented in an America not fully mobilized for war. Apologists for the Obama administration — and there are many — note that previous administrations have done similar things in ‘difficult economic times.’ As examples, they cite Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Depression-era agricultural production limits to boost farm prices and Richard Nixon’s “temporary” wage and price freeze to cut inflation. What today’s cheerleaders for Draconian interference in capitalism and our private lives fail to mention is that these measures were abandoned because they did not work. FDR’s farm production limits produced a thriving black market and eventually succumbed to the need to feed millions of our countrymen suddenly drafted to fight World War II. President Nixon’s attempt to dampen inflation with wage and price controls was a monumental failure. When he started the program, the inflation rate was nearly 4 percent. By the time he left office, it was more than 13 percent and climbing. But those ugly precedents aren’t going to stop the O-Team from trying again.”

What Is Divine Justice?

John MacArthur

From: The Desk of John MacArthur

What is divine justice then? Let me give you a definition. What is divine justice? It is an essential attribute of God whereby He is infinitely and perfectly just in Himself, of Himself, for Himself, from Himself, by Himself and none other. That’s a heavy-duty theological definition. What is divine justice? It is an essential attribute of God, that is it belongs to His very essence, whereby He is infinitely and perfectly just in Himself, of Himself, for Himself, from Himself, by Himself and none other. Psalm 11:7 says, “For the Lord loves righteousness.”

James Usher, many years ago, wrote, “The source of God’s justice is His own free will and nothing else. For whatsoever He wills is just and because He wills it therefore it is just, not because it is just therefore He wills it.” You understand that? A thing is just because God wills it. He does not will it because it is just by human standards, He sets the standard. Divine justice is of an entirely different order and character than human justice.

And by the way, justice isn’t the issue anyway. You don’t want to talk too long about justice when you talk about salvation because if God gave us all justice we’d all be sent to hell. You see, the creator owes nothing to the creature…not even what He graciously is pleased to give to the elect.