Reflections on Justice, Mercy, and the Spirit of the Law

This morning I found myself reflecting on how easily the human heart drifts between two extremes: legalism without grace or grace without moral gravity. The Spirit pressed on me that the law was never meant to crush but to convict, never to save but to lead. Christ fulfilled it completely, and yet the moral pulse of that law still beats in the life of every believer.

As I prayerfully considered, I saw the difference between repentance and self-control more clearly. Repentance is what I offer after I’ve fallen; self-control is what the Spirit gives me before I do. One cleanses, the other guards. Both are grace at work, one healing, one preventing.

I thought too about how the civil expressions of God’s moral law, ancient penalties and judgments, have passed away, but the underlying truths haven’t. God still hates injustice, still honors life, still demands integrity. Yet the means by which His people uphold those truths have changed. We fight not with stones but with truth, mercy, and moral clarity.

When I consider abortion, my heart grieves. It is the taking of innocent life, and it violates the image of God. But I’ve come to see that justice must always leave room for repentance. The goal is not to destroy the sinner but to destroy the institution that celebrates sin. Mercy doesn’t weaken justice; it redeems it.

And then my thoughts returned to Jesus’ words: “Let the little children come to Me.” His tenderness toward the smallest ones reminds me that every soul is known to Him. The murdered child rests in His mercy; the guilty are still invited to repentance.

So my reflection ends here: justice without mercy makes us cruel, mercy without justice makes us blind. The Spirit of the law, Christ Himself, holds them together. He teaches me daily that holiness is not just rightness of conduct but rightness of heart.

Soli Deo Gloria