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Saturday, March 14, 2009

What does it mean to love justice?

"God of Justice" Tim Hughes

God of Justice, Savior to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

We must go
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward, keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly every day
Loving mercy in every way
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out.

Our God is a God of justice. The psalmist writes in Psalm 140:12 "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." God is justice Himself and has not once forgotten the plight of the weak. And did we ever doubt it for a second? Maybe. Maybe when life isn't so fair, when the good die young, when the innocent suffer, when the guilty get off scotch free. Where's the justice in that? It's hard to believe in justice in the face of such atrocities. We forget . . . we are the problem, the poison, the cause of injustice, but also the instrument for reconciliation. And yet, we are conquered by despair, we forget our role as God's hands and feet.

As such, there is such a lack of attention for justice in our world today. We are half-hearted, discouraged as the injustice gets bigger and the justice-lovers dwindle in number. Victims victimized, dehumanized, a number. Proverbs 29:7 "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." And those who do manage to care? World humanitarian groups, trying to do the right thing, the United Nations, trying to establish rights - they trip over themselves, mutilating justice as the try to uphold it. Do we even know what it is anymore? Proverbs 28:5 "Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully." As we seek the Lord is comes into focus, understanding, our role, our call, our hearts.


What have we been called to do? What does it mean to love justice? To seek it? How can I even know what justice is in a world that twists it and abuses it? Isaiah 1:17 "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." We must. It tells us how, what we must do. Our theme verse while in San Francisco was Micah 6:8 "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 must. To act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with our God is required of us. It's a command, like in Zechariah 7:9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.'" We must.

Love justice. Seek justice. Do justice.

1 comment:

Michael Au-Mullaney said...

Justice is balance, balance is perfection. I think what it means to love Justice is to love what was originally created. Injustice is perfection that has been twisted. We must seek to RESTORE justice, to reclaim the world. Of course..the real question is how. I think God lays it out for us pretty clear: love your neighbor as yourself. Be selfless, if you have two tunics give to the man who has none...and I'd take it farther to give him your tunic even if you only have one. But God calls us especially to do what we are most capable of doing. Responsibility partially depends on -a-bility. I'm rambling in my comment...Justice is perfection, and we are (as Christs servants, and "knights") required to help restore that perfection, for God's glory...though that is not optional. Perfection glorifies God regardless.