It is Right and Just!

In many churches around the world millions of Christians regularly hear this challenge,  “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,” which is followed by “It is Right and Just.”  Every time I say those words I stumble over “just.”  Maybe because I spend my days fighting for “justice” for my law firm’s clients and I just don’t easily connect “justice” with our giving thanks to the Lord.

So, friend, chew on this with me and see where you come out.  Nobody, I suspect, will disagree with the adage that “it is right” that we creatures give thanks to the Lord our God.  We have incredible things to thank God for:  at the top of the list is God’s loving us so much he incarnated himself into our human form and died a criminals’ death so that we might have hope for eternal life.  (John 3:16) Yes, indeed, that’s worthy of our thanks! 

But “just” implies correctness, balance, health, morality, and/or right(eousness).  So, stay with me here, how is my saying “Thank You God” any of those characteristics?  Simply put, this is the question:  How is “Thank you God” just?  What the worship leader says next gives a clue, if not the total answer.  After I declare It is Right and Just I usually hear these words:  “It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation to give you thanks.” 

There it is!  It is Right and Just because it is our duty and salvation.  “Duty” is a word which figures greatly in my work as a trial lawyer.  I tell the jury that a defendant doctor “had a duty” to order blood work and a chest x-ray when his patient comes in having coughed up blood for three weeks!  The 34-year-old man died because his doctor had failed his duty.  And the jury of his peers smacked that negligent doctor with a “Just” verdict!  That makes total sense to me. 

But “salvation”?  Ah, yes indeed, when that jury returned its verdict, my client felt that she had received “salvation” and she thanked them (and me) profusely, without hesitation!   The widow (with her 18-month-old father-less son in her arms) could not even think about leaving that courtroom without giving thanks to the jurors as they walked past.

When I contemplate the blessings in my life, they are too numerous to count! For me it is a highlight in any worship service to be challenged to give thanks to the Lord our God.  And the confirmation of that challenge always stirs my soul:  It is Right and Just!  May your efforts to properly thank God be enhanced today by grabbing onto It is Right and Just.  To do less than constantly thank the Lord our God is flat out not right and not just!

God deserves our thanks for all he has done for us. Can I get a witness?

Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you found The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you. 

You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/

[NOTE:  If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please use the contact tab and let me know!  I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]