mercy and justice

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Revelation 16:1-21. We read about God's justice on those who refuse to turn to Him and be saved.

I just watched Rambo:Last Blood today. It was very dark, and I don't recommend it unless you want to see something really sad and dark. But there was a certain satisfaction watching it, because the bad guys, who had done HORRIBLE things to Rambo and his niece, finally got "what was coming to them" in the last fifteen minutes of the movie. We have a deep need for justice, and to see someone who deeply wrongs another person get punished for it helps us scratch that itch for justice.

God is rich in mercy. He desires for all of us to be saved. And there is part of me that prays that everyone DOES receive His salvation. I don't want ANYONE to spend eternity in hell, away from Him forever.

But God is also just. And anyone who DOES refuse to turn to Him and continues to rebel against Him will find themselves cut off from Him forever.

Let's pray, both that He will prevent US from turning from Him like that... and that He will successfully win the hearts of those who have yet to turn back to Him.

God, thanks for being both perfectly just and perfectly merciful.