We are Casey Anthony!

As most people, I was amazed at the outcome of the Casey Anthony trial. It had seemed that the evidence supported a guilty verdict. Who wouldn’t question how a mother could not report her child missing (supposedly for 31 days) or would lie to police not once or twice, but on four occasions. Why would anyone believe her?


The reality is none of us know the truth behind the case…were the jurors persuaded by her defense? Or was it the difficulty facing the prosecution to layout the evidence? Or was it the evidence itself that didn’t add up? Except for Casey Anthony, her daughter Caylee, and the Lord, no one knows what really happened. We can speculate…but we truly don’t know.

In fact yesterday, I was in the checkout line at Walmart when the cashier proceeded to tell me why she thought Casey was guilty. Obviously, any person that has followed the case wants justice. In fact, we yearn for a world of justice (except when it’s concerning ourselves). Solomon’s desire for justice led him to these statements, “I saw something else on earth: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness. I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment for every deed. “ (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17)

While we will continually see injustices happening in the world, Solomon points out that injustice should lead us to the reality of our own humble state. One day both the righteous and the wicked will be judged. Everyone will stand before the ultimate judge, Christ.

See we have much in common with Casey Anthony…we are guilty of sin before a Holy God. We can try to cover it up, hide it, or deny it, but the evidence is clear…guilt is our verdict (Romans 3:23). However, our Judge offers mercy...not injustice. See injustice means that the guilty go unpunished. But our guilt was punished by our Substitute, Christ on the cross. He took our death penalty…and through faith in Him, stands as our competent lawyer before the Judge. While the evidence leads to clear guilt, the verdict is in, NOT GUILTY!

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."                             1 John 1:8-2:2