Or is it?

A few days ago I received the first issue of the Neue Quarterly so today I decided it was time to pull it out, browse around and find a pithy article to digest while Sarah was doing school work on our “working date” at Panera.

I landed on an article entitled “Don’t Forget Justice” by Brian McLaren.  Now, before you dismiss the rest of this because you think you know what McLaren is all about, take a deep breath, relax, and check out this verse:

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.

Action Items:

1. Act justly
2. Love mercy
3. Walk humbly with God

Seriously, take a minute to think about what that verse means for your life.  Are you living it out or is two out of three good enough for you?

I have to admit that for far too long I have lived with the mentality that two out of three was good enough.  In fact, I really thought that there was really only 2 things that I needed to do.  Here is what stuck with me though.  If I am only getting two out of the three, then I may as well not be getting any of them.  What am I talking about?

In the article there is one major “callout quote” on the two page spread.  Here is the quote:

If we only focus on mercy, we can unwittingly aid and abet those who practice injustice.

Let’s think about the three “action items” from Micah 6:8.  It would be pretty safe to say that most churches and most Christians totally agree that we should be walking humbly with God.  No problem there.  More and more Christians and churches are grasping the fact that they should be committed to showing mercy in our neighborhoods and throughout the world.  Really getting better there!  Are we really doing justice though?

Justice the the action that gets to the root of the problem.  If a group like IJM goes into a brothel in Bangkok and rescues a young girl that was forced into prostitution by buying her back from her “owner,” mercy has certainly taken place, but has justice been done?  No, that “owner” now has space and money to go get a new girl and start the process over.  Justice is taking place when IJM does the work to not only rescue that girl but to put an end to what that owner is doing, it is getting to the root of the problem and dealing with the dirty details.

You may have noticed that I have a new banner in the upper left corner of this blog, or the widget on the right hand side.  Compassion International is a group that it seems has just about mastered the art of combining justice and mercy.  I would be easy for Compassion to have mercy and provide food to millions and millions of hungry children around the world but they have chosen to take the more difficult, messier path of working toward cutting off the problems at the root.  When you sponsor a Compassion child you are not only providing food for their hungry mouths, you are providing an education and giving them a chance to experience Jesus in the flesh so that in turn they can do the same as they grow into adults.

Take another minute and figure out how you are doing justice in the world.  Maybe you need to help fund an entrepreneur over at Kiva, sponsor a child with Compassion, or doing something more hands on in your own neighborhood. Whatever it is, get out there and do justice!