Just

I’m making a wall.  It is astounding how much work is involved in putting a wall together correctly. Home Depot sells a very nice antique-red cottage stone.  I figured it would be a simple matter of piling stones across the front of my lawn for aesthetic and practical value.  Ah yes, the engineers are laughing again!

To build a wall correctly, gravel should serve as a foundation and should support the stones from behind if there is a slope of dirt the wall will be against.  A drainage pipe should also run along the bottom of the wall.  The reason gravel is so important is because it allows water to drain.  If I placed my stones against the dirt slope without gravel, they could be pushed over by water trapped in the hard compacted soil.  

Fortunately, I had some astute friends show me what to do before I set about building.  My favorite and most important tool was the level.  I had to make sure the foundation was perfectly flat lest each succeeding layer of cottage stone slant making my structure lame to the keen observer.  Who wants to be the recipient of a “that’s a dorky-looking wall” comment!

As I look at my almost-finished brick barricade, I’m struck by how important the word “just” is.  You see, if Christ is not my spiritual foundation and if His Word is not what supports me, I’m a dorky wall.  To be just means I am righteous, straight and level.  It means that no matter what life piles on top of me, my wall is sound.  I cannot be just unless I am aligned according to God’s standard of holiness. 
 
Meditation
Deuteronomy 32:4--The Rock—His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true.
 
“You yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood . . . ” (1 Peter 2:5). If we tolerate that which is wrong and does not glorify God, our lives will lean beneath the weight of sin until we fall over.  Evil abrades our structure.  That’s why we must keep ourselves aligned with our precious Cornerstone.  Our holy Rock will gladly straighten our crooked selves if we will repent of evil in our lives, and obey Him.  How incredibly fortunate we are to have a perfect Father! The question is, what does He see right now as He examines us?  Are we living just lives or are we just living?  Something to think about . . . in reveration.
 
Inspiration
“Just” means right with God; nothing is just until it is adjusted to God.—Oswald Chambers in The Moral Foundations of Life
 
©2000 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)