6. Pilgrimage to Paradise: Justice and Righteousness

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As is always true, there so many diamonds to dig out of every passage of Scripture. A lifetime is not enough to find them all and expose every one of their glorious facets. We look briefly at a couple from 1 Peter 1:17-19 as we consider our pilgrimage or journey through this death valley of life and we look toward home. 

Earlier this morning I was reading through the book of Amos. It's a book of judgment sprinkled with a little hope. But two words stuck out: justice and righteousness. The absence, or perversion, of these two in the lives of God's people, Israel, brought judgment down on their heads. God's judgment fell equally both on the enemies of His people as well as on His people. He will not be mocked by either. Peter alludes to that as he writes:

"Since you call on a Father who judges each other's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

We land again on "…live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear". I am working from the New International Version but out of curiosity I checked to see how the King James Version translated this verse. There, the only word used is "fear". I looked up the meaning of the word in the original language and took note that the primary meaning is "fear, dread, terror". There is a strong sense that the Father, "who judges…impartially" is looking for something that we need to be very careful to live out, to the point of being seriously afraid to miss the miss the goal He has set for us.

Peter is quick to assure his readers that he is not telling them that their salvation is in jeopardy. Rather, because of what it cost Jesus to redeem them, they need to be very careful not to toss that salvation to one side as though it were nothing by returning to the "empty way of life" that their forefathers lived. Those ancients threw God's values back in His face, forgetting all He had done for them. He wanted justice and righteousness and they gave Him neither.

In Psalm 84:5-7, our jumping off point to 1 Peter, we rea: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength until each appears before God in Zion."

Justice is one of the expressions outside that happens as righteousness is produced by the Spirit of God inside. The two, like the love and marriage in the old song "go together like a horse and carriage". And as justice and righteousness are lived out in our lives they make their mark in turning arid and barren places and people into better places and people.

But how do we view how we live out justice and righteousness in our lives. My guess is that we often miss the "fear" part of the message. Because of what it cost Christ to save me, am I cultivating righteousness and working for justice, to the point that I am anxious to make sure that I don't miss His goal of establishing both as prominent pieces of my life as a believer? How much of my life still displays the emptiness of a life lived without reference to the One who gave His life to save me from that emptiness?

Considerations that ought to make us pause.