There is a powerful connection between doing justice and living.  And I don’t mean living as in waking up, breathing, and walking around kind of living.  And I don’t believe that is what God means.  I believe that God attaches living to the justice we impart to others.  Living, then, becomes more than just occupying a warm body and moving around.  Living becomes an action targeted toward the empathetic actions of care toward those who are less fortunate.  And it involves actively pursuing matters of justice as related to those from whom the basic necessities of life are frequently withheld.  For God, that involves eliminating oppressive policies against the poor.  It involves issues of integrity in which people don’t take that which doesn’t belong to them, but feeds the hungry in their midst, providing clothing to the naked, creating economic equality among the poor and not profiting off of their poverty.  These are the issues of justice things Jesus came to live when he said,

     18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

         because he has anointed me

     to proclaim good news to the poor.

         He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

     and recovery of sight for the blind,

         to set the oppressed free,

     19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2)

And it’s nothing more than the message God gives to each of us — to provide justice for those to whom justice is often denied, giving them an opportunity to experience living as God intended all human creation to experience.  It’s not a single season of a specified period.  It is a season of life that is a daily expression of living offering others the justice that God requires for and from us all.  So, it’s not just that we live, but how we live that opens the door of God’s justice for all people.

• In what ways does your living actively display God’s justice among those you know?
• How can you become more assertive in living in a way that God’s justice becomes a more central part of your life?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer
God of Life and living, grant that I may live my life in such a way that I honor others according to Your understanding of justice and truly live.

         One of the greatest sources of injustice in our world is the economic injustice that we live with each day.  When we consider the enormous wealth of 1% of the population of the world compared to the other 99%, it’s clear that the world is divided into the “haves” and the “have nots”.  God has never required more than a tithe (10%) of all God has given us.  But the money lenders of our age charge as much as 30% interest on credit-card debt and other loans.  Yet when Nehemiah sought justice for his people, he encouraged them to charge no interest, and only 1% of the commodities the people consumed.  What a different world it would be for the poor if the interest they paid could be returned, or the amount of interest reduced by as much as 25%.  What a difference it would be in the world if those who were wealthy believed in the equitable distribution of wealth in the way the bible suggests so that:

         15 As it is written,

     “The one who had much did not have too much,

         and the one who had little did not have too little.” (2 Cor. 8:15)

Even our gathering of resources is supposed to guided by a sense of justice with a fair distribution of the resources God has provided for all.  It makes no sense for some people to have two homes while others have none.  Yet we all know of people who have larger homes than they need, more homes than they can live in at one time, and more money than they could spend if they lived two lifetimes.  God has always required a just distribution or resources because it — as Nehemiah says — “is not right” for it to occur in ways that make it burdensome for the poor.  That is God’s justice at work in the human heart and among those who are challenged by exorbitant economic policies.

• When have you found it necessary to engage in a protest about high interest rates or the unfair treatment of the poor?
• What would be necessary for you to take seriously the cause of the poor in ways that you became an advocate for their concerns?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer
Gracious God, give me the courage and will to pursue Your justice in ways that I actively advocate for those who are the victims and survivors of economic injustice in our world.

         It may be difficult to understand that justice begins with an attitude of the heart.  Though somehow, we’ve learned to associate justice with “upholding the law”, making sure the punishment fits the crime, and seeing to it that those who violate the rights of others, get their “just due” or get what’s coming to them.  Well in some just and righteous ways, God believes that people should get what’s coming to them — that the hungry should get the food they need, that those without a place to live should have shelter, that everyone should be able to have clothes that fit the climate they are exposed to.  Those are justice issues.  But those are issues that happen when a person’s heart is in the right place.  The old practice of tearing your garments — displaying an outward sign of frustration with your sins, and an open and visible sign of grief — is to be replaced by an inward change of heart toward those who are in need.  It’s God’s justice that says in essence, “Don’t just wail and moan and cry and throw a hissy fit.  Do something that provides for the needs of others.”  It’s not enough to sit in the midst of our own pity party.  We have an obligation to act based on our grief at the situation before us.  It’s not enough to bemoan the state of the homeless if we aren’t willing to act to remedy the situation.  Because God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, we should be also.  We shouldn’t rejoice in the calamity that others experience in life.  We should do justice, love mercy, and act to relieve the suffering of humanity as much as we can.  God wants us to empathize and sympathize with those who daily face life’s challenges.  But God also wants us to take an active role in helping to remedy their situations.  That’s what justice is in the eyes of God.

• On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest engaged and 10 being the highest engaged, how would you rate your engagement to remedy situations for the less fortunate?
• What steps do you need to take to raise you activity by 2 points in the coming year?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer
Loving God, help me to transform my compassion and mercy for others into acts of love and grace that will meet their needs in the midst of an unjust distribution of wealth in our world.