Why Do You Say God's Ways Are Unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

Why Do You Say God's Ways Are Unjust? 

Is it not your ways that are unjust? 

Ezekiel 18:21-23,25,30,31 

 

Today, even as in other generations, those who do not know God think He is unjust. What does God say to this? God said, "If a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed (repents) and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live... None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their wicked ways and live?  Yet you say,'The way of the LORD is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?  (Consider your offenses you have committed and turn away from them.) ... Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! 

Today, we repent (turn from sinful ways) and turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ who paid the ultimate price for our sins on the cross and proved He was Sovereign God by rising from the dead. Just as He died for our sins, we are to now die to sin, and just as He rose to life, we are to rise to a new life lived from Him, to Him, and for Him. He has freed us from the bondage of sin so that with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we may do so. He has given us the promised new heart and new spirit within us to desire after Him. 

We need to occasionally examine our hearts to see if we have any hidden sin in us that we need to take to God in prayer and give it to Him. Why? so He can enable us to be free from it and progressively replace it with the character and attitude of Christ.   We need to remember that all behaviors first stem from an attitude.  We must bring the attitude to God and with the attitude changed, the behavior will gradually follow suit.

God sees our hearts and examines our motives, and knows all we think and do. It isn't difficult for us to see the faults or sins of others, but we are often blind to our own faults...at least, until someone points them out to us. We all need to examine our own heart attitudes and even those things that may be pointed out to us, to see how, when, or why we exhibit a particular behavior, and to bring it to God. We are to pour out our heart to Him to help us change our attitude in that area and replace it with a more humble, gentle, patient, sensitive attitude in order that we would honor Christ in all our ways. 

It doesn't feel good when someone (often a family member) points out a fault, but if we want to grow in both grace and knowledge and honor Christ in all our attitudes and ways, we need to examine our own heart attitudes and how our words may sound to others... even if they weren't meant to sound that way. Do we come off as a know-it-all? Do we talk twice as much as we listen, when it should be the other way around? Who is our focus on, ourselves, or others when we are speaking? Do we speak to them as we would like to be spoken to, or do we talk in a way one would to a child or someone with a dementia? Do we have a control problem? Do we have a pride problem or lack of humbleness? We should examine our heart attitudes not to feel guilty, but to grow spiritually to emulate the character of Christ Jesus more and more. We must first recognize our faulty areas before we can practice new biblical attitudes to replace the old ones.  Sometimes God may show us a fault at a time while listening to another person who has that same type of fault.  They probably do not realize how they sound to another either.  We cannot change another’s behavior or attitude, but we can certainly ask God’s help for working on ours. This will be a witness to others that with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and prayer, we can have our attitudes transformed, and grow more and more in grace.

Do you find you have learned behaviors and attitudes passed on by parents? Many of us do and we aren't always aware of this either, until someone points it out to us. I have three sisters, and a friend of mine has two sisters. In both of our families there is a spirit of competitiveness, a stubbornness, a need to be in control of our environment, a need to rescue others, as well as a need to watch our backs. When you get two or three sisters (or brothers) who hang out together who carry same or similar family traits it can become a real challenge in the patience department, and for your relationship to survive, forgiveness is a necessity to learn and practice.

We are not responsible for our parent's faults, or sins, and neither are they responsible for ours. We are each responsible for our own, and are responsible to look to Christ Jesus as the answer for salvation for the penalty of our sins, and through faith in Him by the grace God gives, we find out that Jesus also released us from the power of sin in our lives, when we are focused on Him rather than ourselves. He has also given us the Holy Spirit as our Counselor, Director, and Enabler. The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Word of God how to live our lives to glorify God (Hebrews 12:1-3) and honor Christ in both attitude and action.(Romans 2:1-2) He has given us everything we need to live a godly life. (1 Peter 1:1-9)

God is so just that He took the penalty for our sin upon Himself and gave us the freedom to choose life or death.  Eternal life comes through Jesus Christ, who is the only Way, Truth, and life (John 14:6). Life is in and through His Son, Jesus Christ and if we reject Him, we reject God, and therefore eternal life.  Why does anyone want to stay in their sin and die in it?  All who will come to Jesus, He will not cast out. It is our choice.  Faith comes through the Word of God (Romans 10:17) and we are nourished by the Word of God on a daily basis. (Matthew 4:4); The Word is our food and the Holy Spirit is our refreshment.  We need both, as they always work together.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on anything in this post in the comment section below.  Thank you.

~Annie~