George shares his thought for the week; deserving justice but receiving mercy.

So today, I find myself outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and it got me thinking about the difference between justice and mercy.

In Romans chapter 6 and verse 23 is a verse which says

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

So in terms of justice, what we should expect to receive is death – that’s what sin should lead to, death. But because Jesus took that course of action, to die on a cross for us to satisfy justice, we can have access to mercy. Where if we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us our sins and give us eternal life. And that’s what that second bit of the verse in Romans 6 talks about: that instead of justice, we get mercy and eternal life.

And if we think about the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross, there were two guys on either side of him also being crucified. We may find the method of their punishment repugnant, but they were getting their just desserts for the things that they had done. Jesus had done nothing; He was there for our sins, for the things that we had done wrong. But the most encouraging thing to me, over and above the fact that that gives us access to eternal life, is the prayer of one of the thieves on that cross when he said to Jesus, “remember me when you enter your kingdom”. And Instantly Jesus says “today you will be with me in Paradise”.

That thief may have been getting justice on the cross, but he got mercy on the cross too because of that simple, quick and effective prayer to our Lord Jesus, who granted him access to eternal hope and eternal future. We too can have that access if we only say yes to Jesus.

Have a good week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.