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Thoughts on Vindication

To be vindicated means to be proven right.  People can be vindicated from wrongful accusations or from denial of rights.  Everyone wants to be right and correct in what they believe and what they do.  For those who knowingly do wrong, they want to avoid getting caught.

For the Christian, it became a dangerous and delicate move to stand for our own rights or to prove ourselves right, even when we are standing for the absolute truth of Scripture.  This is because in modern society, if I prove myself right against some accusation, then I am also proving the accuser wrong.  Proving people, ideas political positions, ethic groups, sexual orientation right or wrong is what today’s most political climate is all about.  The result, as both sides claim, is dividing, not uniting.  If believers in Christ are divided over political rightness, then the kingdom of God suffers and Christ is not glorified.  If, however, people who follow Christ can stop seeking vindication, then unity in the body of Christ will increase and others will see how we love each other, even in this climate.

Ultimately, everyone who has ever been will stand before Christ.  From the baby that was aborted to the person who lived to 115 years of age, everyone will stand before Christ.  There is a teaching today that says we will gain vindication at that time, if we believe in Christ.  Those who believe this say that Christ will examine our works and declare us righteous at that time.  Justification will be bestowed and we will be vindicated.

Considering this view, I find a few things wrong.  First, I have no righteousness of my own.  I never have and I never will.  I have no works, that are mine, that would withstand any judgement.  I was desperately wicked before Christ saved me and I remain, in my being, totally depraved.  Second, when people are truly saved is that the righteousness of Christ is placed on them.  It is imputed to them and placed a like a robe.  God sees the righteousness of Christ and at the moment of salvation, believers are fully and completely justified.

At the end of time, Christ will not need to examine anything concerning me, because I will be there out of no work of my own.  Christ will not have to “See” or “learn” or “discover” anything.  If anyone is vindicated at that time, It would be Christ who is proven right by the salvation of the elect, not losing a single one.

So people can spend their lives proving themselves right and seeking vindication on this earth.  However, without Christ we are nothing, have nothing and nothing good lives in us.  So it is better to love one another, support the rights of one another, spend our time proving one another right and in that way build the unity and community of God.

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