Stephane Hessel, a 93-year-old philosopher, concentration camp survivor, and former member of the French Resistance, has written a booklet, Be Indignant. Since the publishing of the tract and its 11 printings, he has inspired the nation to fight for social justice. Hessel said to the French: “Don’t be complacent. Don’t simply accept the widening gap between rich and poor, the degradation of our planet, the suffering of oppressed peoples. Get angry and take action.”
Long before Hessel wrote to inspire the French to fight for the oppressed, God commanded His people to follow His lead and live justly. Upon delivering Israel from Egyptian oppression, God wanted to establish a community that would be governed by the laws of love, truth, and justice. God expected His people to deal fairly and justly with one another. They were not supposed to pervert justice because of the pressure of the crowd (Exodus 23:2), financial gain (Exodus 23:3,6,8), or favoritism toward the poor (Exodus 23:4-5). The motivation for practicing justice toward others was that God had demonstrated one of the greatest acts of justice on their behalf— freeing them from Egyptian oppression (Exodus 23:9).
We too are recipients of a great act of justice—Jesus dying on the cross to set us free from the oppression of sin. With the death and resurrection of Jesus our Messiah, God has already begun to make things right in a far-from-right world. Because of our relationship with Jesus, we are His agents of justice and change in the world, loosening the chains of injustice, setting the oppressed free, sharing our food with the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless and foreigner, and clothing the naked.
Let’s be indignant against injustice and take God’s love and mercy everywhere sin has vandalized His shalom.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Galatians 5:13-26
More:
Read Isaiah 58:1-8 and list some ways God commanded His people to practice justice.
Next:
Over what act of injustice in our world does God want you to pray, get angry about, and take action? How does God’s justice encourage and inspire you today?
eppistle on November 28, 2011 at 8:56 am
Doctrine is important. We should not compromise the essentials of the Christian faith. But sometimes Christians are guilty of majoring on the minors. We emphasize doctrines in which the Bible is not clear, but not focus on actions in which the Bible is clear. What does the Bible make very clear?
“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” (Micah 6:8).
Two out of three things deal with helping the oppressed – the unborn, the refugee, the poor, the enslaved, the persecuted…What have we done lately? How about donating to ministries like International Justice Mission or Compassion International? How about going on a mission trip to help the poor? How about ringing bells for the Salvation Army?
winn collier on December 1, 2011 at 10:05 pm
The cry for justice is a cry for the world as only God can make it. Thanks for the reminder.