Injustice for All

 

I had a dream. Oh my dreams are not anything like those of Martin Luther King. My dream was quite silly and I can only recall the smallest bit of it right before I woke up. In my dream I was upset by how unfairly vampires like me were treated. Yep. Nothing like MLK. But it got me thinking about the injustice of so many different groups and I realized that there is no justice for anyone on this earth.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 [NIV]

Recently, I caught myself being angered over the snubbing of female vocal artists in country music. Another instance of my righteous indignation is that I am angered by how teachers are treated in our society. And another pet peeve of mine is how good leaders are ignored even though they choose to step up when others shrink back and judge. But what good is my anger? It only makes me bitter. And that is a weapon of the Enemy. My gut response to my very justified anger is not helpful. It is destructive. Maybe I don’t kill people or tear down store fronts, but I destroy my own peace. And that drains the God-given serenity from my soul.

So how are Christians to handle injustice? Are we supposed to accept it and pretend it doesn’t exist? I’m so glad you asked, because the Bible has so much to say about this topic that it could never be addressed in this little blog. So I will just hit on a few points. To get the real deal, you need to read the Bible. It is full of stories of injustice and it offers practical advice on how to handle each.

One such story is that of David and Bathsheba. It is full of injustice! It takes place after David has become accepted as the reigning King of the Israelites and is sitting pretty in the throne. He sees a hot woman bathing on her rooftop and wants her.(And it is not like he doesn’t already have wives of his own.) Long story short, David summons Bathsheba who is another man’s wife, gets her pregnant, tries to cover it up in several different unsuccessful ways until he resorted to murder. This story has plenty of injustice to go around. But God sends a justifier. He sends Nathan the preacher, to confront David. Nathan does not go in shouting hellfire and brimstone even though David definitely deserved it. I think Nathan was sent by God to address this injustice because Nathan knew how to be smart and control his righteous indignation. Nathan chose to approach David with a story of injustice about another guy who did a similar thing as David. And it worked like a charm. David was livid at the perpetrator in the story. Then, ever-so respectfully, while David was most vulnerable, Nathan tells David that he was this man. Nathan was not out to avenge the wrongs committed to Bathsheba or her husband, his endgame was repentance and change.

I think Nathan can teach us all how to handle injustice. First and foremost he was called by God to do this. If it is not a calling of God. I should not touch it. And I will only know what is my calling if I stay in God’s word and speak with Him frequently. Second, Nathan was not defending an injustice done to himself but was looking out for others. He had no skin in this game. We are called as Christians to look out for others rather than ourselves. If the cause benefits me and mine, it may not be what I need to be addressing. Third, he could control his anger. This is something that is learned by practice. Anger only brings out angry responses rather than remorse. In the case of justifying injustices, anger is seldom an effective tool.

Nathan used his God-given wisdom to address the situation one-to-one, in a non-confrontational manner. And by Nathan’s preparation, obedience, and the power of the Most High God he was effective! David repented and changed his ways. And the last point: If revenge rather than repentance is what I am looking for, my heart is not ready to confront anyone.

 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

Romans 12: 19 [NIV}

So my take-away is that unless I am called and equipped by God, I do not need to handle injustices. I need to look for the injustice of others rather than myself and I need to check my anger at the door and be smart. Now is not the time to ignore social injustice but it is also not the time for vengeance. Now is the time to listen to what God is speaking into my heart and to defend the defenseless.

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Taking the Mystery Out of Faith

 Everyday is full of choices. That is what makes us human. We have the ability to reason and choose.  We choose food, clothing, how we spend our time or what we read, watch and think about.  We choose recreation, friends, jobs, housing, spouses and how we spend our money. And every one of these choices leads us to more choices, making life a tangled mess of choices. If you don’t believe me, just make one choice differently today then pay attention to the consequences of that change.  

For example, I might choose to sleep a little later than normal. That causes me to miss breakfast which makes me snack before lunch which makes me not want much lunch. So I get super hungry in the middle of the afternoon and grab a Dr. Pepper and candy bar to hold me until dinner. Of course you know what happens at dinner which leads to a late night snack because for some mysterious reason, I cannot go to sleep at my regular time so I stay up late watching the TV until I fall asleep. Then the next morning… You get the point. Every tiny, insignificant decision affects so many others!  

Faith is a decision. When we make a mental decision to believe rather than to fear, every choice for that entire day will hinge on that choice. Choosing faith is powerful and affects every part of our lives. Just like the decision to sleep in late affected my entire day and beyond, so does a single tiny choice of faith affect my entire life. It is not so mysterious. I always thought faith was some big supernatural thing. But today I am reminded that faith is a choice, a single choice made in a moment of time, over and over again. I first chose faith a long time ago. And by sticking with that decision daily, I began the journey of a faithful follower.  

Remember the mustard seed analogy? Jesus particularly liked this little seed. He told the disciples that if they had the faith of a mustard seed, they could move a mountain. Then at another time he tells them that the kingdom of God is like that little seed.

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Mark 4:30-32 [NIV]

On a quick Google, I found that mustard bushes reach an average mature height of between 6 and 20 feet with a 20-foot spread, although exceptional plants can reach 30 feet tall under ideal conditions. They have a spreading, multi-stemmed growth habit with a drooping or weeping branch structure.

Sasha Degan of Home SFGate

I always thought this seed analogy referred only to a tiny amount of faith for a lifetime, but now I see that tiny seed of faith as a starting place for the kingdom of God in our lives, affecting the lives of others. Just as a tiny seed is the beginning of a large branching plant, so is one single, tiny choice of faith. It is the multi-stemmed part that intrigues me. Each branch gives birth to more branches, until that single decision has branched into every corner of our lives. Maintaining this choice by daily renewal makes it grow and branch into more and more parts of our life, ultimately creating a niche for other living things. Faith starts by a single simple decision. And spending the time to nurture this choice, causes it to branch into other parts of my life. Faith is an anchor for my choices yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yes, I will make wrong choices based on fear, selfishness, pride or anger.  But my fall-back, my go-to, is faith.  And when I make minute-by-minute selections based on faith it is like fresh rain on the roots of a thirsty plant.