Thanks for joining us in the Pew today. The focus of our blog today is a little bit different. There’s a lot of old sayings that have been passed down over the years, one that you don’t hear a whole lot today in our time is the common idiom “got his just deserts”. If you look closely, you’ll see that the word used here is  spelled with only one S. Deserts, when spelled in this manner, having only one S does not refer to some after dinner sweets…when spelled in this manner, it’s meaning having received punishment or a bad consequence for something that we’ve done that was wrong. The word “deserts” comes from an old noun meaning “what is deserved” which is related to the verb deserve. So I’ll write it one more time. It doesn’t refer to a sweet dessert of some kind.

A comedian whose name I don’t remember once said that the world’s not really messed up it’s just the people in it. I guess that’s a lot more accurate than what we’d like to admit, all of us at one time or another have feelings of resentment against others either because it’s something they’ve done to us or something they’ve done. So this old idiom we’re looking at today was the way that the old folks used to control their anger and still have a means of passing some kind of judgment. But the Bible or the biblical view is simply receiving what you truly deserve and the Bible balance is strict, divine justice with ultimate grace and mercy. Scripture teaches us that actions have moral consequences and there are some things that we as humans do   that that deserve a penalty. In Romans 6:23 the simple way to put it is that the “wages of sin is death.” The spiritual separation and judgment are the natural and fair outcome of turning away from God. I think we run across the universal accountability from passages like Obadiah 1:15 and Galatians 6:7 “whatever one sows that will he also reap.” this universal accountability, reminds us that God will hold nations and individuals accountable for what they do and they will face retribution or consequences matching their treatment of others. We must also keep in mind, however, that the Bible repeatedly emphasizes that God does not always give people the full punishment they deserve. And that’s illustrated in psalm 103:10 which states “he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us, according to our iniquities.” the hard fast truth that there is and always will be redemption through Christ. We will not be left to suffer “our just desert.” It is important that we understand that sin separates us from God and that Christ voluntarily bore that intensity of suffering on the cross, offering grace, forgiveness and eternal life as a gift rather than a earned wage.

I think I’ll turn the keyboard off at this point and simply hope that for each of you find that mercy, grace and justice through your relationship with God and you will receive your…..Just DESSERT. A sweet reward for a job well done.

Life is Good

jk