Real Hope: Love and JusticeSample

A Jesus Kind of Justice

Sadly, modern justice can have an undertone of aggression and self-righteousness to it. The ‘enlightened’ forcefully correct the beliefs of the dull, and anyone idling in the middle is crushed by a stampede of good intentions before they even know what all the fighting was about. 

To act justly means to act in accordance with what is morally right and fair. It’s no wonder that proves difficult in an era where morality is increasingly personalized. Your moral code can be strikingly different to mine, and it’s generally the loudest, most-publicized voice that shapes what the majority will accept as right. 

The version of morality (and therefore justice) that God calls us to is one defined by the Kingdom of God and found in the life of Jesus. It’s a quest for equal treatment of everyone that stems from the belief that all lives are of equal value.

It’s also paired in Micah with a love for mercy—gentleness toward those who get it wrong, and a humble relationship to God—the source of your moral code and an imperative guide for your approach to justice.

Chris Llewellyn from the band Rend Collective sums up it up well: "Tribalism is always looking for a nice tidy box to put people in so we can hate them more efficiently: Us versus them, ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’, saints versus sinners. The Kingdom only has one label for absolutely everyone on planet earth: neighbor." May it be toward them that we always act justly.   

Written by Laura Bennett