Osama bin Laden and My Response to God's Justice

Last night, as I finally retired to bed around 2:00, I made one final check of Twitter.  It was then that I saw a link to the picture posted above.  It was taken by Michael Appleton for the New York Times, and when I saw it, I was at once moved with emotion.

It was not the first time I had gotten choked up last night.  Earlier, CNN had gone to split-screen coverage, one side replaying President Obama's speech, while on the other side, people celebrated at Ground Zero in New York, singing our national anthem. It was a moment of patriotic pride for me as an American, as I was euphoric that justice had been done.

The more I considered my own reaction though, the more pause I had. Was I really happy because "justice" had been done? It seems to me that most of our excitement is that WE have been avenged, that WE are (perhaps) safer, that WE have received the justice WE deserve. And don't get me wrong. These are all good things, and I very intentionally include myself in the "WE."

The reality though is that at least those of us who are Christians ought to be less concerned about OUR honor, and more concerned about God's. If this were truly the case for me, I would realize that on the "spectrum of goodness," I am infinitely closer to bin Laden than I am to Jesus. And the Bible makes it abundantly clear that, as a result, I deserve the righteous condemnation of God every bit as much as bin Laden did. If "justice" is what I ultimately want, then I would rejoice just as heartily over my own "being brought to justice."

So in the end, I do humbly and non-triumphalistically thank God that Osama bin Laden has gotten what he deserved. But I am far more thankful yet that, cleansed by the blood of Christ, I will not.