In the beginning, after the final act of creation was done, God saw everything that he made and declared it “very good.” This declaration included man himself, man and woman. Since that time man has had the need to be approved, vindicated, or justified in the eyes of God himself and those who represent him in our lives. Children need to hear “Well done” from their parents, reflecting the divine pleasure of God himself. A spouse needs to hear approval from the lips and attitude of his wife or her husband. The employee needs approval from his employer in the form of praise or pay. A peer needs vindication from his peer group that he is accepted. We are beings created with a need to be judged and found acceptable.
One of the problems we have in our sin is that we set up false gods, gods who make themselves readily available, to judge us by the wrong standards and give us the acceptance we crave. This vindication is quick and easy. The echo chambers we create in our society through social media and other avenues gives us a great cloud of judges surrounding us to tell us that we are accepted, that we are justified because of the way we think, act, talk, and the positions we take on issues. These gods are all too happy to grant us quickly the justification we long for, and we are all too happy to be satisfied with their judgments. The more they approve of us, the deeper our affection for these gods.
We need justification, to stand forgiven of our sins (by whatever standard “sin” is measured) and enjoy the status of “righteous” before God or our gods. Even those rebels out there who claim to need no one else’s approval, who are independent and unique, find a community of like-minded people—gods—to judge them and tell them that they are justified; that what they are doing is not wrong (their “sins” are forgiven), and they are in the right. It is this craving for justification that drives morally aberrant groups in society, not just for tolerance, but to hear society say, “You are in the right.” They will all keep pressing for the status of “righteous” from society. Any G/god that declares them unrighteous must convert or be destroyed in some form or fashion. They must be justified having no judgment of “guilty” held against them by anyone.
We need justification. Many times, however, we seek it from the wrong source and in the wrong way. The one true and living God created us with the need for justification, and the desire for justification is, ultimately, a desire for him to declare that our sins are forgiven and that we are in the right with him. He provides that justification, that approval, for us in Christ Jesus as a gift of grace. In Christ, he says, “This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” He smiles with favor upon his faithful children and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!”
We have this justification declared to us now because we are in Christ. But the world around us doesn’t see us justified. That is, they don’t see that God’s faithful sons and daughters are the ones who are in the right. Even when they see it, they refuse to acknowledge it and fight against us, seeking to lure us from walking faithfully with our God and accept the worthless vindication of their gods. And it is tempting. Walking by faith in the declaration that we are in the right while much of the world is not only walking the opposite way but fighting against us, makes it tempting to look to other gods to be judged and found righteous. Our God-given craving for vindication can be satisfied quickly, so we think, by falling in with what these people think I ought to be thinking, saying, or doing.
In these times of temptation, it is vital that we, in faith, cling tightly to what God has declared about us in Christ; that his approval, his justification of lives, is the only approval that matters. All judgments that render us righteous in opposition to God’s judgment will, in the end, be found to be false, worthless, and eternally devastating.
Faithful Christian, you are justified in the eyes of God. If you have his approval, why would you settle for the quick, worthless approval that comes from disobeying him in order to be judged righteous by those who are no gods? You can stand firm and do what is right even through death itself because you know in the judgment that counts for everything, you are and will be declared righteous.
