Oct152008
Act Justly
Filed under Reflections by Paul at 4:43 pm on Oct 15 2008
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
We live in a world filled with injustice. It has been here since the Fall of Man. It can often seem overwhelming and leave people paralyzed into thinking they can’t make a difference. But, people who follow Jesus are called to make a difference - not just in the spiritual realm of peoples lives but in the physical realms where there is much injustice. “What does the Lord require?” asks Micah, “justice, mercy, and humility.” This is only 
one place in Scripture that we see the clear call for those that desire to please God. Consider also Hosea 6:6 “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (which Jesus echoes in Matthew 12:7) or Deuteronomy 15:4,7-11. There is no doubt in Scripture that God has a deep heart of love for the poor and that he desires his people to not neglect the poor but to help those in need.
There are many examples of injustice in our world today. Global poverty is one that is being focused on right now in the Blog Action Day campaign. As a part of that campaign, I’d like to take the opportunity to encourage Christians to be engaged in the work of justice and compassion toward the poor. I believe that Christians should be leading the way here. We need to be transformed with God’s heart for the poor and broken. As it has been said, we need to have soft hearts and hard feet, not the other way around. As I mentioned earlier, the magnitude of injustice in the world can be overwhelming, but let it not paralyze us. Just as Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a small mustard seed, the work of justice and mercy starts small. We can’t save the world overnight, but we can reach out and begin touching lives one by one. We can give of our abundant resources and of ourselves. This is one way that we can follow Jesus on the downward path of becoming a servant - by the giving of ourselves for the needs of others. Consider Acts 2:45
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
The early church understood here that the needs of others were just as important, if not more, as their own. We also see this is in Philippians 2:3-4 when we are told to consider others better than ourselves and to not only look to our own interests but to the needs of others. That is the Jesus way!
There are too many people in this world that are living in poverty and suffering injustice. Let those of us who follow Christ, become like him and have his heart of compassion. Let us not serve out of guilt or obligation, but out of the Love of God and our desire to please Him and to be his hands and feet in this world.
So get creative! What are some ways YOU can begin to get involved and make a difference?
Some Suggested Reading:
A short story entitled: The Man Who Planted Trees
Plus these books:
1 Angela Con 16 Oct 2008 at 9:47 am
Where does one begin? How can one person make much of a difference? How could we join with others to exponentially increase our efforts? Most of us have no idea where to start. Do we go to our church and ask how we can help with a project? I know I can give money but what if you want to get involved in solutions instead of stop gap efforts. I for one don’t want to put my finger in the hole in the dam. I would rather build a new dam. I would rather teach someone how to fish than keep bringing them fish once a week.
Unfortunately, there are some who would rather be given the fish than go out and fish for themselves.
2 Paulon 17 Oct 2008 at 5:18 pm
The first step, as with most things, is the hardest I believe (at least it is for me!). I think one of the best ways to start is by looking around your immediate surroundings (family, neighborhood, work, community) and begin looking for opportunities to serve. I think one hurdle to overcome is simply our tendency to be self-focused in our daily life. So a lot of it starts with attitude. Next, I think volunteering and getting your hands dirty would be a helpful step. Check out Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, local church food banks, homeless shelters, nursing homes, etc. I think that by taking the next step out of our comfort zone will help the heart of compassion to grow. Then as that compassion grows, I think that creative ways to serve and to help fix root problems will begin to come to our heart and mind.
It is true that there are some people that are satisfied with living there lives in total dependence on the generosity of others, but I don’t think we should let that stop us from serving. While the Bible is pretty clear that we should work for systemic justice (fixing the systems and structures) there are also lots of examples of how we should simply care for the poor and needy without hesitation and with no strings attached. That can be a hard pill to swallow. But, I think that’s why we ultimately need a balance of compassionate serving and working towards a greater justice.