Balance Of Justice
By: Kristen L. McNulty
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When my life came to an end, I found myself standing in a courtroom. To my right was the evilest looking man I had ever seen. At the front of the room stood a balance. I'd seen this type of balance many times before, always associated with the courtroom. The balance of justice, I believe some called it. It stood empty on a table right in front of the grand bench the Judge sat behind.
The Judge banged his gravel, indicating the start of this court session, and motioned towards the man on my right to begin. He approached the balance and began to speak, "Your honor, if I may please the court. My name is Satan and today I will prove that she," Satan said while pointing an accusing finger at me, "is guilty of many sins and should be punished by death, as so stated in Romans 6, clause 23." Satan paused and when the Judge motioned for him to go on, he pulled out a stack of cue cards and stood before the balance. One by one he began to read each card aloud, and when he was done reading each card, he placed it on the side of the balance closest to him.
He started with a card from May 9, 1983- a date familiar to me: my birthday. "On this day, Adam's sin was passed onto her." Satan said with a sneer, then proceeded to read a card for each day of my life cataloguing each sin. I was mortified to sit there and be reminded of each evil thing I had done "...August 2, 1987 lied to her parents, stole from her sister, went outside when she was told not to..." I stared at the floor as Satan recounted every time I'd lied, cheaten, betrayed, lusted, forsaken. It seemed like he read those cards for an eternity, and the stack on the balance was getting awfully high. So high that it would take a huge weight on the other side to balance out my sin.
At last, Satan finished reading and announced, "That is all your honor." He swaggered over to his chair and sat down looking quite smug. I looked up and saw the Judge looking down at me with pity in his eyes. Then I glanced to my left and noticed another person had entered the room- it was Jesus. "Do you have anything to say in her defense?" The Judge asked Jesus. Quietly, Jesus approached the balance with a small stack of cards in His hands. He began to read them one by one. Each card contained a record of the good I had done "...she shared me with a friend, gave money to the homeless, showed concern for a friend..." Jesus continued reading until each card was done and placed on the other side of the balance.
I looked up as He placed the last card and was mortified to see that my cards of the good I'd done barely moved my cards of sin. "Surely I'm done for it," I thought, "if my good couldn't save me, what can?" As I was just about to give up all hope, Jesus began to speak, "Before you sentence her Father, I would like to say something in her defense." The Judge motioned for Him to go on and Jesus said "I knew before Kristen was born that she could never outweigh your balance of justice, so I decided to pay the price for her. Satan mentioned Romans 6, clause 23 but he never finished reading it. It says 'For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.' She's mine Father, and I would like to take her home with me." When Jesus finished speaking, He stretched out His hand towards the record of my sins and just as His hand was over it, a drop of blood dripped out of His nail pierced hand. As soon as the blood hit the first card, the whole stack disappeared and the balance instantly shifted. Jesus turned to look at me and said, "I did this just for you." Tears were in my eyes as the Judge looked down at me and said, "I can find no fault in you. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Eternity awaits you." Satan dropped his head in defeat as Jesus grabbed my hand, lead me out of the courtroom and together we walked into eternity.
This devotional was aired as a part of the Making A Difference Christian Radio Show.