Divinely Acquitted

I attended law school after I graduated from college just because I was bored. I know, I know it's a lame reason and a lamer idea. I didn't stop first to think that I would be wasting other people's time, specifically the professors, on someone like me who was not even interested of becoming a lawyer. Not to mention that I was wasting my own time and money on something I just whipped up out of thin air in the middle of the night just because I was bored. Oh well, I was young and ignorant. A very dangerous combination, now I know. But, for all it's worth, I did love law school. I met some of my closest friends there and I actually learned some very important things. Though I didn't get to finish my last year and a half because I decided to start a family instead, looking back I don't regret a thing. I might have done a couple of things differently if I knew back then what I know now but there is no point in discussing the what ifs, is there?

Law school is very toxic and demanding. The readings and studying are non-stop! I wouldn't mind reading at all if the materials were interesting in the least, but not for me. It was endless memorizing and that is plain torture since memorization is not one of my strong qualities. I remember one of my professors coming up to me after a major exam and he told me how he appreciates my answers and that he knows I had a good grasp of the lessons but he said he would prefer actual quotes "to the letter" from our textbooks. I reasoned to myself that I was only being "creative." I was interpreting what was said on the books and putting it down on paper in my own words. Sadly, it doesn't work that way with the legal profession. It's a very exact and "by the book" kind of study. I was not too happy. So I digressed and had a baby instead. Ha-ha!

One thing I've learned from law school was the subject of guilt and innocence. On how the legal system requires evidence and proof beyond reasonable doubt before we can call anyone guilty. On how feelings and emotions are not accepted as truth in the courts. There must be some kind of physical evidence or a credible eyewitness account pointing to the guilt or innocence of a person. The legal system is not perfect and the lines between facts and lies blur all the time, and that's why lawyers are supposed to be very careful and meticulous with their work. Unfortunately, that latter part doesn't happen "to the letter" all the time. There are holes and flaws with the justice system anywhere in the world but we have to admit we've come a long way since the time of the "shoot before asking questions" era. Or, are we?

Innocent before proven guilty is the "motto" of a democratic justice system. Sounds very promising, doesn't it? Yet in our society that doesn't happen all the time. We love to "convict" and judge people even before they are legally and formally prosecuted. Humans have a "mob" mentality. You remember the story in the Bible on how the crowds were stoning an adulteress because in their eyes she was already guilty as sin? What did Jesus do? Did He also pick up a stone and threw it at her? He had all the right in the universe to judge her right there and then but He did not. Instead, He chose to speak to the crowd and turn their accusing fingers right back at them.
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." -John 8:7(b)

In the eyes of the Almighty God, and according to His perfect justice and the requirements of His divine nature, I am guilty. I am a sinner with the root sin lodged in my inner being ever since I was created in my mother's womb. I may not have known this truth when I was still an "innocent" child but once I was at the age of recognition of what is good or bad, I was guilty of my sins. There was no hope for me. I was bound for punishment just like any criminal who is guilty of a felony and who has to be sentenced to jail or even death. That's the way our justice system works, and even though there's still a clamor for a much better one, no one wants to abolish the system because it does make sense. When there is a crime, a punishment must be meted out, plain and simple. But for some reason, when it's God who presents His perfect justice for sin and its consequence of eternal punishment, we think it doesn't make sense at all. Mankind can create our own justice system to help make this world a better place but God, in all His perfection and divinity, can't make His own rules that should apply to us?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16
It is my utmost joy to know that God's perfect justice "system" doesn't end at sin and my eternal damnation. He knew I can never make it on my own, it was hopeless for me. So from the very beginning, He designed the perfect plan of atonement for man's sins and to mete out the eternal punishment that will fulfill His divine requirement. It is only His Son, Jesus Christ, who can fulfill God's necessary payment for man's transgressions by Jesus' death on the cross, shedding of His blood, for Him to become sin even though He is sinless, and through His resurrection. Jesus arose from the dead and has victory over sin and death forever. All I have to do is accept this truth and to trust in Him alone in order for me to be saved from the eternal punishment of hell. I have been divinely acquitted in the heavenly courts above. I was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all my sins but by His grace now I'm innocent in His eyes. I can never fully comprehend this wonderful truth but that doesn't change anything. It is still the truth. And to God be the glory! 
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9