Psalm 101

101:1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will make music.
2 I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
from the city of the Lord.

Love and justice are where the two most profound ideas of God come together. So much that I have a really hard time explaining it because there is a mystery. Love is what mothers feel for their son no matter if they are great people or lacked up in jail, they will always be their baby boy and the mom will always love them. Justice is the idea of righting wrongs, always doing what is good and right on behalf of others. Often times these two ideas in my limited wisdom and insight are incomplete, yet with God they are perfect. The come together at the cross, was their another way God could have done it, of course. Why did he choose to do it this way? I have a few answers but none of them seem complete.

Once these two things meet in your life, it changes you. While selfish motives might hijack the program occasionally, they become the exception. Rather we desire to do good, walk with integrity, and seek that which is of value. This means to trust that things will be okay even if I don't get my way. That's hard. I had a situation last night at work where I asked someone for a favor and they said no. I have never asked anything of this person and I simply wanted to write them off, I was so frustrated. Then I had to trust. There is no need to be more of a butt to this person, they are already enough of a butt. Just trust.

God is working out his plans. That plan is good for those he loves, and not so good for those he is showing justice for their actions. When you are in his love, that justice has been satisfied through the cross, that leads us to a conversation on atonement which we don't have enough time for.