Peace

 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  - Hebrews 10:30-31

Wait a minute!  Just when I’m thinking that our God is just a love and grace producing machine…I run into a verse like this.  Sobering, but truthful.  No one can love anything unless you know –and experience the opposite.  God is love, but God is just. 

My current favorite Christian thinker, Tim Keller, would remind us that verse like this is what makes Christianity such a peaceful faith.  When we’ve been wronged, we will count on the justice and vengeance of our God, and not the justice, vengeance and anger that we can harbor.  That is why you’re generally unlikely to see followers and trusters in Christ rioting and taking angry vengeance when there is a movie or cartoon that is seen as insulting to our faith.  There will be vengeance, but God will have that final word. As for us, we’re just likely to sigh and think, “Again?”

Isaiah 9:6 calls the Messiah “The Prince of Peace” for a reason.  He is.  But that descriptor includes justice.  His.  Rest in that friends. Peace. Out.