by Matthew Strength

As an attorney who provides assistance to Circuit Court judges on criminal law matters, my entire working life revolves around the justice system. In the criminal law, the government prosecutes criminals and if the State can convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the person committed the crime, they are found guilty and punished. Society calls this justice.  

More generally, we all claim to love justice. We think that criminals should be punished. We are offended by grossly unfair practices in the world around us, and rightly call them injustices. We also rationalized, in the name of justice, seeking revenge against those who have wronged us. We are often happy when bad people get what they deserve. 

As Christ-followers, however, our understanding of justice must be different because of what Christ has done for us. We must understand that justice alone would require that we pay for our sins by spending eternity in agony, apart from God. Compared to God, we are all bad people. Thankfully, God, through Christ's suffering and death beautifully combined his justice, grace, and mercy. Christ took the penalty of our sins and we have a way to be right with God and spend eternity with him. A deep understanding of this truth (I'm not there yet) will cause us to be more gracious and less judgmental.   

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that we stop prosecuting criminals. Government must prosecute those who break its laws. Failure to prosecute criminals would undermine the stability of society, and God ordained civil government that would rule over the people. Rather, as is often the case, it's a matter of the heart. The grace of Christ should compel us, as Christ-followers to be forgiving people, freely forgiving injustices, while at the same time understanding that sin has consequences. We should not take joy over a murderer being sentenced to death nor should we take joy when someone who has wronged us, gets what they deserve. We also should not be angry when a person we deem unworthy, gets a second chance. Rather, we should be thankful that God did not hold our sins against us, but instead send Christ, to take our place. We have been given a second chance (more accurately an infinite number of chances), so we should be thrilled when others are given a second chance too. The Gospel is a story of second chances. Thank God, that he did not see fit to give us justice. 

(Matt is a Judicial Staff Attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit. He graduated from law school at Florida State University in 2010. Matt studied political science at University of South Florida, as an undergraduate. He grew up in Avon Park in south-central Florida - where his family still lives. If you would like to contact Matt, you may do as at matthewstrenth@gmail.com)