Justice systems on earth will never be perfect because mankind is made up of individual beings whose individual needs and beliefs are different from the others. How can this be when our souls cry out for justice? Absolute Justice has no bounds of race, religion, or creed. Where do we get this concept of justice from even when it may not be consistent in our world?
This is a great passage from the Bible, Proverbs 21:
"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart." -verse 2
"To do what is just and right is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." -verse 3
"Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!"
"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."
"A fortune made my a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare."
"The violence of the wicked will drag them away, for they refuse to do what is right."
"The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright."
"The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin."
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered."
"When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to the evil doers."
"A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead."
"He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich."
"He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."
"The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing."
"A wicked man puts up a bold front, but an upright man gives thought to his ways."
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."
"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord." -verse 31
Now I left out a few verses, mostly about keeping away from a nagging wife. We see a lot of truth in these proverbs from Solomon, the wise king giving his heir his most valuable treasure: wisdom.
In the midst of unrest over the way we handle justice, I would suggest this: let's all work together to solve the real problem. Let's love our God, love our children, and love our neighbors. If we work together to end crime and not encourage a culture of hate and violence against women or minorities then we won't find another Trayvon Martin case.
We will create community based on love and must trust that trusting in Jesus can heal wounds made by man. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and unjustly died a criminal's death. His resurrection redeemed all of man and created equality between free and slaves, Jew and non-Jew, man and woman, gay & straight, colored skin and white, educated and uneducated. So cry out to your Abba, Father and proclaim your inheritance and ask for wisdom and justice! Galatians 3:26-29, 4:1-7
We must take a moment and look inward, no matter how painful it might be to find that plank in our own eye. But don't just find it; remove it. How are we each working to end a culture of hate for our brothers and sisters? While protest brings attention to issues, let's do the real boots on the ground work. Let's go into the Sanderfords, Jacksonvilles, and New Yorks to keep kids off the streets, women from being trafficked as sex slaves, and men from lifestyles of addiction and abuse.
1 comment:
Well the good old state of Florida has laws that allows an individual the right to use deadly force against a perceived threat of physical harm or loss of life, which is stupid. violence against violence. that's the popular thought of our culture, one obsessed with violence and guns. its ingrained. there's a predisposition, it is learned, taught from parents to child. its this thinking of its ok to kill or take another human life that needs to be changed. It's the thought that non whites are less of a person than one who is that needs to change. as a culture. as a people. If we continue on this path we have learned nothing from MLK, Ghandi, the bible. nothing from civil rights movement. nothing from each other.
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