It’s a good question. As Christians, are we too insulated from the worlds’ injustices?
Yes.
But it’s everyone, not just Christians. The whole world has always been blind – or choose to not see – to that which is uncomfortable or downright horrific. This is an understandable human reaction. We are busy focussing on our own families, keeping them fed and housed and happy and safe. But also, we don’t want to see. This is not an accusation. I don’t want to see either. Those things are so deeply upsetting. It breaks my heart that there are more slaves in the world today that there has been at any other time in history (up to 50 million people by current estimates). It rips me apart that human trafficking for sexual exploitation impacts millions and over one third of them are children with an average age of 15, and it is a gut punch to know that some of them are well under 10 years of age.
I don’t want to know that. I don’t want to see that. I want the world to be a nice place where I have hope for the future of my children and everything is okay. That’s not me as a Christian, that’s me as a human.
The reason it is important for me (and all of us) as Christians is that God wants us to see it. He wants us to care about it so that we can act.
God is a God of justice
Judgement and justice are linked but are different. We know that God is a God of judgement because of sin. Jesus Christ will judge the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1-2) at the last day. The judgement relates not to how good we have been or how many good works a person has done, but who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and saviour, saving them from the punishment for sin that we so rightly deserve.
But God is also a God of justice. The Psalms abound with references to it. God is known by his acts of justice (Ps. 9:16), he loves justice (Ps. 11:7) and the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice (Ps. 50:6).
This last one is interesting. God’s justice, is linked to his righteousness. There is a clarity about what is right and what is wrong and to the degree that he acts on it. Solomon, in Psalm 72 even asks God to endow him with justice with God’s righteousness. Justice comes with a moral compass, wisdom and discernment. Righteousness (or “right-ness”) is behaviour that aligns with God’s character and his rule. Justice is used interchangeably with righteousness.
God is a God of compassion
Compassion is not feeling sorry for someone. It is feeling with someone. It is suffering with someone. It is part of God’s character which he explicitly tells Moses (Ex. 33:19 and 34:6). In Ex. 33:19 and Psalm 77:9 there is a link between compassion and mercy. It’s easy to see why. Mercy is showing forgiveness or compassion on someone, even when you have the power to withhold that favour, or even punish them.
God has all the power in the universe to punish. But he has mercy and compassion. He feels with us and favours us. Jesus has compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless (Matt. 9:36) and he had compassion on the sick (Matt. 14:14). In the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), when the errant son, in repentance and humility decides to return home, “his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” This is how God greets us. His heart is with ours. He feels with us.
God’s justice and compassion is the source of action
Notably, God doesn’t just feel with us, it causes him to act. Jesus had compassion on the crowd “so he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34). He had compassion on the sick and in the crowd so he healed them.
Compassion is not a passive emotion. It is a spur to action.
God wants us to be compassionate and to act
God’s exhortation through his prophet makes this clear: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) Jesus reiterates this in Matthew 23:23 when he says “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
This is given a pastoral application when the writer of Hebrews says “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (13:3). We are exhorted to feel with others, and remember them. “Remember” in this context is not just calling them to mind, it is an active motion. We remember to buy milk by calling it to mind. We remember someone in my prayers by actively bringing them before God in prayer. We remember those in need by adding a monthly donation to a charitable cause.
This is most clearly seen with respect to those outside our own immediate circles and churches in Isaiah when the people are arguing that they do all the religious observances and yet God is still angry. God speaks through Isaiah:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?” Is. 58:6
When we put this in the context of loving our neighbour and treating others as we would want to be treated, it is confronting. Am I loving my neighbour by preferring to look away? Also, if something happened to me, or to one of my children, I would want someone to come and save me, to hear my voice as I scream for help, to smash down the door I have been locked behind and to take my captors into custody to receive their temporal justice. I would be desperate for help. In desperate need.
And there are 50 million people in the world in that exact position, Right. Now.
We cannot look away
The oft quoted phrase is a true one: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
We know that there is evil in the world. As Christians, we cannot look away. We must face the truth of our broken world. The reason we might avoid it is because it hurts – and that shows that we do care. We have compassion, but in our hurt, it spurs us to avoid the upsetting feelings. We need to switch that direction to allow it to spur us to act on behalf of those who have no power and no hope.
You might think you are too busy to do anything. This is a real and true thing. We are mostly overwhelmed with keeping our own families and doing our work and taking care of our houses and serving at church and so on. But if nothing else, we all have time to pray.
You might think there is nothing you can do. The problem is too big and we are too small. But here’s the thing, in our compassion, we should be spurred to do any action no matter how small. Remember – we aren’t the ones without power here. We have power and so we can grant the favour of mercy. Those we are seeking to help are the true ones without power. We serve a God who spoke the universe into being and raises from the dead. If we are faithful, acting as his hands and feet as we seek his justice in the world, we have so much more power than you think you do.
When we ask what is God’s plan consider this – we are the plan. We are God’s people, called on to grow in Christlikeness and to seek God’s justice in a broken world.
What do we do?
Be aware. There are so many organisations doing God’s work around the world. You can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, LinkedIn or subscribe to their newsletters. Some I would recommend are listed below – these are Australian links but most of these have international or US bases:
- International Justice Mission. Started by Gary Haugen and a group of Christian lawyers after the Rwandan genocide, IJM rescues slaves and provides safe and loving rehabilitation, but also works with local law enforcement and legal frameworks to ensure that corrupt systems work in the favour of the victims and not the perpetrators to truly break the cycle.
- Anglican Aid. This is the international mission arm of our Australian church and has a focus on supporting churches in war-torn areas and supporting vulnerable people.
- Destiny Rescue who focus on rescuing children from sexual exploitation.
- Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs who focus on persecuted Christians worldwide.
I would also highly recommend reading Gary Haugen’s books Just Courage. God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian, which is a shorter and easier read. And his longer and more in depth Good News About Injustice. There’s also Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road and Generous Justice. There is also a 12 session Bible study prepared by IJM called God of Justice which is excellent.
Pray. Most organisations have prayer diaries you can have sent or access online, or sign up to receive monthly prayer updates.
Given what we know about our God, we can pray often, fervently, hungrily and expectantly. Being more aware of what the issues are also helps us to be more specific about our prayers so prayer really goes hand in hand with the awareness piece above.
Give. If we are able, we can give to the work of these ministries. That could be the sponsorship of a child, a regular monthly donation or a fundraiser for your birthday perhaps (for example, you can set up a fundraising page via IJM for events). You could also think outside the box and host an event with the proceeds being donated.
Be an advocate. We can involve others in our efforts – praying together, hosting an event together, even having a giving jar (or online fundraising page) at our weekly Bible studies which people can donate a few dollars to each week as they are able. We can invite speakers to our churches so the prayer effort grows. But we are God’s people working together for his justice. This works for us as individuals too because then we are working (and bearing the compassion) with our Christian brothers and sisters. This helps us to feel stronger and avoids feeling overwhelmed by what we are seeing and learning.
Be involved. If you feel compelled, and are able, you could go. When I say ‘go’ that really means ‘be involved’. You might try to work for one of these organisations, or volunteer for them in some capacity. We all have skills and talents that God gave us. We use those at our churches but we can also use them to support the efforts of other Christian organisations who are active on the ground.
The main thing to remember is that seeking God’s justice is part of our Christian life. It’s not really a choice for us. God’s heart breaks for the violence and injustice in this broken world and so we should grow in our understanding of what breaks God’s heart so that we can be his hands and feet.
As Gary Haugen noted in Just Courage, “Doing justice is being obedient to Jesus’ command to love our neighbour in a world of injustice.”
This is hard. Because it requires us to be outside of our comfort zone. But how we react to the vile injustices of our world can be a bellweather for where our heart is, and how strong we feel spiritually. If you feel immobilised by the vastness of the problem, remember that God is infinite. If you feel overwhelmed by the idea of such great wickedness, remember that Jesus burden is light – so that overwhelm is coming from a human source that can be overcome with God at our backs. If you have been made culturally numb to what is happening in the world, perhaps we are seeing too much on social media – so much that it almost seems normalised, or something that other people are dealing with. All these responses should be a spur to drive us to a Bible study or some self-education, or some discussion with our Christian brothers and sisters.
Because what we do matters.
It matters to God. And it matters to the 50 million.
“Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” (Is 58:8)