Josh Hatcher's Blog
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Shining Bright Part 3 – Justice
Christmas time brings out the best in people. People often call it the “Christmas Spirit”. We should really try to emulate those qualities we see at Christmas time all year round. It’s not really a Christmas Spirit, but a Christ-like Spirit.
Throughout the month of December, Open Arms will be looking at what it means to “be a light”. Join Josh Hatcher on his blogging journey through the virtues behind illuminating the world around us.
Justice –
“That’s not fair!” says any given child on any given day to any given parent.
“Life is not fait!” retorts any given parent to any given child on any given day.
Justice is our response to the fact that “Life is not fair.”
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.
What God requires of us to be lovers of mercy, and doers of justice.
Justice does not mean that we go and don vigilante masks, making sure crime is punished,.
Justice means that to those who have been dealt an “unfair” hand, we offer to balance the scales.
International Justice Mission is an organization that fights for justice all over the world. Here is there mission statement.
“IJM exists to protect people from violent forms of injustice by securing rescue and restoration for victims and accountability for perpetrators, ensuring that public justice systems work for the poor.”
They work to free women and children that have been sold into sex slavery. They work to prosecute the heads of child pornography rings. And much more.
But the heart of what they do is mean, not to bring punishment to the offender, but to bring recompense to the victim.
That is what justice is. It’s built on the foundation of compassion and mercy.
It does involve punishment, but the point is to bring wholeness to the broken.
Life is not fair. The leading cause of death in our world is a lack fo clean drinking water.
My brother came back from Bangladesh last week, and he says that the whole country is covered in dirty water, and people drink it, despite the fact that they empty their chamber pots into it, and bathe in it, and clean their cattle in it. They drink it despite the fact that it contains arsenic.
And they drink it to their death.
Andy Anderson and Randy Morvant of the Baobob Foundation told me that 90 percent of the children in Guinea die stillborn, because their mothers do not have clean drinking water.
In Darfur in Sudan, people are starving to death, and being murdered by raiders that are stealing the little bit of food they get dropped in by airplane.
In Uganda, young boys are being forced to fight in a brutal war.
Boy soldiers are still reported to be conscripted in Sierra Leone.
Girls in Thailand are China are being sold as sex slaves to people all over the world, including in our own country.
This should propel us to action. Justice is not just knowing that life is not fait, but doing something about it.
When we see a wrong, we should try to right it.
There is a celebrity campaign that says that if we all give a little, we could literally end world poverty.
I’ve also heard it said that if every church going American gave their tithe, and if every church gave a minimum of two percent of their income, that funding word missions would never be an issue.
How beautiful would it be if we all were hell-bent on defeating the forces of hell that wreak havoc on this earth! What if we worked to try to right the wrongs we see around us? It would change the world.
Throughout the month of December, Open Arms will be looking at what it means to “be a light”. Join Josh Hatcher on his blogging journey through the virtues behind illuminating the world around us.
Justice –
“That’s not fair!” says any given child on any given day to any given parent.
“Life is not fait!” retorts any given parent to any given child on any given day.
Justice is our response to the fact that “Life is not fair.”
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.
What God requires of us to be lovers of mercy, and doers of justice.
Justice does not mean that we go and don vigilante masks, making sure crime is punished,.
Justice means that to those who have been dealt an “unfair” hand, we offer to balance the scales.
International Justice Mission is an organization that fights for justice all over the world. Here is there mission statement.
“IJM exists to protect people from violent forms of injustice by securing rescue and restoration for victims and accountability for perpetrators, ensuring that public justice systems work for the poor.”
They work to free women and children that have been sold into sex slavery. They work to prosecute the heads of child pornography rings. And much more.
But the heart of what they do is mean, not to bring punishment to the offender, but to bring recompense to the victim.
That is what justice is. It’s built on the foundation of compassion and mercy.
It does involve punishment, but the point is to bring wholeness to the broken.
Life is not fair. The leading cause of death in our world is a lack fo clean drinking water.
My brother came back from Bangladesh last week, and he says that the whole country is covered in dirty water, and people drink it, despite the fact that they empty their chamber pots into it, and bathe in it, and clean their cattle in it. They drink it despite the fact that it contains arsenic.
And they drink it to their death.
Andy Anderson and Randy Morvant of the Baobob Foundation told me that 90 percent of the children in Guinea die stillborn, because their mothers do not have clean drinking water.
In Darfur in Sudan, people are starving to death, and being murdered by raiders that are stealing the little bit of food they get dropped in by airplane.
In Uganda, young boys are being forced to fight in a brutal war.
Boy soldiers are still reported to be conscripted in Sierra Leone.
Girls in Thailand are China are being sold as sex slaves to people all over the world, including in our own country.
This should propel us to action. Justice is not just knowing that life is not fait, but doing something about it.
When we see a wrong, we should try to right it.
There is a celebrity campaign that says that if we all give a little, we could literally end world poverty.
I’ve also heard it said that if every church going American gave their tithe, and if every church gave a minimum of two percent of their income, that funding word missions would never be an issue.
How beautiful would it be if we all were hell-bent on defeating the forces of hell that wreak havoc on this earth! What if we worked to try to right the wrongs we see around us? It would change the world.
:: posted by joshhatcher, 3:32 PM
1 Comments:
amen brother josh, just want to tell you i love you realy appreciate you.love always DW.
