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I See No
Deprivation
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Does
it surprise you that God’s patience has an end? Why or why not? If
God’s patience were limitless, what would his justice look like?
(Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1162).
When
the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great
wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is
hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I
tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the
disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who
then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew
19:22-26 NIV).
While
I strongly believe in eternal justice and that in due course God’s
justice will prevail, a sense of temporal justice confirms my belief
in the love of God and his involvement in our daily lives. If God
were not love, everyday justice wouldn’t matter; but since God is
love justice delayed can be seen as justice denied. Thus justice can
be a matter of urgency. I also understand that God’s view of
justice can be entirely different from my own—especially in regards
to economic justice. As a comparatively wealthy man in this world, I
am subject to a sense of entitlement born of complacent
self-righteousness—something I tend to share with others similarly
situated. As a man of property, it is extremely easy for me to
mentally justify bald injustice; I have a limitless sense of
entitlement to my wealth. I see it as it deserved and even showing
the favor of God which cinches my purblind hold on it and confirms my
self-centered belief that justice rests in the status quo—poverty
is simply a judgment of God. Nothing testifies to the corruptibility
of human nature more than the belief that wealth telegraphs spiritual
superiority.
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