As I take stock of my life, I realize that the only way in which my life could get better is if I had a wonderful woman with whom to share it. For the few friends and family members who know about the privations of my life, many of them stand in awe and gratitude that I have weathered things as well as I have. I know after my paternal grandfather died, my paternal grandmother told me how much they worried about me because I was like him. He crusaded for what ought to be, and fortunately for him there were people in positions of power who knew him and his character and who restored him to his previous posts when other men cut him down. Even now as I stand somewhat disappointed at the events of August 2013, I continue to maintain that what should be will be when the time is right. God’s work and plan is not frustrated but only the work of man.
Many of us do not trust God as much as we claim. I see all sorts of people who clamor for enforcement of the Law of Social Justice and who demand their pound of flesh right now. Many of these are Christians who apparently find it convenient to ignore the fact that Christ said that the Mosaic Law which preaches “an eye for an eye” ought be done away. I watched this weekend the Count of Monte Cristo as Edmund Dantes scratches over and over into an indentation in the wall the phrase that “God Will Give Me Justice” and then goes about trying to exact justice himself. When we take justice into our own hands, often that is the end of our reward, and we also miss out on the peace and tranquility that comes with forgiveness and letting go. In the end, Dantes admits that the priest was right, and that he should have used the things with which God blessed him to bless others rather than to only serve himself.
Over the past decade, several people attempted in various ways to derail my life, my finances, and my career. In each of these cases, the legal costs and ramifications cost me a great deal of time, effort, and money. However, over the past few years, God gave me opportunities disguised as trials by which I have been able to earn back either through extra work or through returns on investments almost everything fiduciary that the adversary ever took from me. I can actually honestly say that for me as God did for Job I am better in the end than I was in the beginning. Sure, I don’t have a family, but I dispensed with the tyranny of my ex-wife, and I now know what it must feel like to purchase your own freedom. I am in better shape financially, physically, and even grammatically than at any other point in my life heretofore.
When we go out and demand reparations, we in essence deny the Christ. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is about more than purging sins and iniquities. During His carnation, the scripture He chose to describe His mission came from the book of Isaiah and doesn’t mention sins at all. It reads: (Isaiah 61:1-2)
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
All of these things mentioned have to do with alleviating the suffering of mortality. In other words, there will be a restoration of all things, not just the material things or the loss of loved ones who die. Christ’s suffering compensates for our grief, for when other men do justice to others and hurt us, for the fact that some are held captive to circumstances or chemicals or choices of others, for when we turn the other cheek and men revile and persecute us. Turning to the courts for justice or demanding that an offense I did not give against people not present to be offended be paid by me denies Christ and says in essence that we have no need of a Savior. It says we prefer a small token now rather than a bountiful harvest in the end. When we hold onto the “right” to exact justice, we cheat ourselves of the opportunity to have something greater.
Turning to the “justice” system has been a mixed bag for me. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose, but in the end it really isn’t decided for me. When I had the opportunity to exact what society calls “justice”, I realized it would hurt other people besides the guilty and abstained from any reparations. When I knew that turning to the courts would render me unemployable in this state even after I won, I trusted that God would lead me to a land of promise and refused to “lawyer up” even though friends suggested I should. God was right, and it opened up more opportunities to where I am now that I would have curtailed if I took another path. I might have had money, but that would have likely been the end of my increase.
Sometimes we find it hard to trust God because we lack experience or because we lack vision. As a man trained in science, I too rely betimes on empirical evidence because I know it retains some degree of substance. However, there is an entire world beyond that we do not always see because we are too focused on the problem in order to see the ramifications or the best solution. While out shooting this weekend, sweat accumulated on my shooting glasses. Someone asked me how I could possibly hit targets with that in the way. I told them that my father had taught me when I first learned to drive to look beyond the glass. If we focus on the problem, we cannot see the solution, and as long as our gaze remains narrowly focused on an impediment immediately before us, we may not be able to see a larger looming danger or a better path or any way around it. Humans tend to arrive at the place where they place their gaze, and so looking too much at the problem keeps us from seeing beyond.
Learn to look through and see beyond. I know it can be a difficult thing. There have been times where I have trusted even though information conflicted with inspiration. Perhaps I could have found a “successful” solution by following the ways of man, but all of these people who preach the old Mosaic tradition draw near to Christ with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. Christ taught us that whosoever believes in God might with SURETY hope for a better world, and when questioned by Pilate, Christ told the magistrates that His kingdom was not of this world. You can have your reward now, however meager it might be or you can patiently wait for something greater and something of a greater nature. This video helps me keep that in perspective:
In other words, the Gospel of Christ asks us to wait. It says, you may either have your pound of flesh now, however unfulfilling that might be in the end, or you can wait for something better. Most of the things awarded by the Gospel of Social Justice are things of no value, things that cannot satisfy, and things that do not last. You cannot take money or property with you when you die, and if that’s all you managed to obtain as “justice” your reward is pretty meager. Plus, when you elect to hurt another, you are no better than the offender, and nobody likes to be lumped together with the miscreant class.
Forgiveness asks us to look through and see beyond. Many of my fellow humans have hurt me greatly. Some broke my bank accounts; a few broke my skin. Some of them broke my confidence; others broke my heart. Some tried to break my Faith; others tried to break my stride. I continue to go on, straight on in the course on which I originally determined to walk. I know that most of the time, people are not doing things purposely to hurt you, especially if they don’t even know you. I know that most of the time they think they’re doing what is right, but that’s because they usually don’t know any better. CS Lewis wrote that you have never met a mere mortal, but it is immortals with whom we hobnob and whom we cheat and exploit. If you believe in Karma or reincarnation or another level of carnation then you know that those transgressions will return to haunt you. You may have your pound of flesh now, but ultimately God’s justice will have a pound of yours in return. People make mistakes; perhaps you have also sinned a little. Christ taught that he who is without sin among us should be the first to cast a stone, and then He abstained, meaning that we ought follow His example. Forgiveness is the greater path and yields ultimately the greater rewards. How much of an upgrade was it for everyone when He forgave the woman taken in adultery!
In every facet of my life where God can, God gave me justice. I continue to increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and most men. I found new opportunities through trusting Him, and the fruits of my field and flocks of my fatlings continue to grow. The Destroyer passes over without harming me. I have all the blessings that are not dependent on the agency of another person because each time I had the opportunity, I chose to let Him decide what is just. How can I possibly know? Even if all the information I possess is true, I usually don’t possess all the information. I don’t know sometimes how He plans to heal my heart, but everything else in my life is wonderful, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I am unashamed of my past and unafraid for my future. I have seen the hand of God in my life. I know it, and I know that God knows it, and I will not deny the Christ. He gives better gifts than the courts anyway. I testify that God gives you justice as well as mercy. I testify that He will punish you as little as He must and bless you as much as He is able as you humble yourself before Him and trust His will and way. If you do your best, it will be with you as if all things worked out the way you hoped, and in some cases, the blessings He gives will be even greater than you expected. Upgrade complete.
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