Social Justice

Did you know that 27 million women and children are enslaved around the world today? Did you know that 26,000 children die of hunger EVERY single day in this world? More than two billion people survive on less than 2 dollars a day and another million more survive on less than one! These statistics were staggering to me as I read them and heard them over the last few months. These things had been true for quite some time, how did I not know them before now? Had I heard these statistics before and just closed my ears? I'm not sure.

What I do know is that is was just ten years ago as a college sophomore that I was SO frustrated with the inundated message of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship that we as people of God should be about social justice. I felt like every day they were asking me to leave everything and walk into the world carrying my Bible like a sword. I felt as if they were saying what I was doing was not enough. I felt like they were belittling my life and telling me to find a new one. I took it personally. They never really explained to me what social justice was, or at least not that I can remember. I don't remember hearing these numbers; I don't remember conjuring images of cruel men using defenseless and scared women as their play things. I don't recall envisioning the hollow eyes of hungry children in need of just one nibble of food. If those images did appear they certainly didn't seem real to me.

But now they are completely real. Last Fall I read the book Radical by David Platt. The premise of the book is that it is important to take the American Dream out of the church and instead replace it God's word, God's calling. This book is powerful. I don't agree with everything he says and he uses hyperbole to make his point in a way that can be alienating to the reader, but the Holy Spirit was at work in my heart as I read Radical and I am radically changed.

For too long I have had my eyes closed to the desperate need of this world; the need of a Savior. I have known this truth intellectually and I have known this truth theoretically, but I haven't really known this truth in my heart of hearts. This world NEEDS Jesus. And it not only NEEDS Jesus, it NEEDS the people of Jesus to step up and fight for injustice. This world NEEDS me to partner with Jesus to feed the hungry, to free the captives, to bring truth. Whether I walk to their doorstep and deliver food or pray for the people who will, I NEED to DO something. I NEED to fight injustice, God has called me to it. Micah 6:8 says:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

The last part of the verse calls me to walk humbly; I believe that to be both in spirit and in lifestyle. I am now very aware of the money I spend and the cost that it is to the rest of the world. I love my coffee at Starbucks but when I drink it I think about how that $5 could have fed 5 children in a third world country. When we eat out, which is rarely now, I think about how much food could be purchased with our $30 bill for those who ache with an empty stomach. It's both a blessing and a curse to think on these things--I realize daily what a gift my life is, but I am also prompted to realize the swelling need in this world.

It's hard to say if I was responsible for the lives and hearts of these people in college when my eyes were closed to the injustice of this world. But now God has convicted my heart, He has made me aware, He has given me very powerful images of the pain and suffering in this world, so now I am accountable. I must do something. But what?

I am thinking on and working on this. I have started working with the refugee families in our community bringing friendship and partnership to families completely uprooted from everything they've ever known. I am hoping and praying about ways to bring food to new mothers who are on AHCCCS here in Tucson. And I am praying, praying for the nations, praying for the poor, praying for those who are enslaved. Psalm 2:8 says:

‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

I want to believe that prayer has the power to not only move mountains, but fill empty stomachs, break chains and bring salvation to the lost. So I am praying.

It has been hard for me these last months as God has been convicting my heart to watch others not feel the same conviction. My life and perspective has been changed and I want theirs to change as well. But I've come to realize that God convicts each heart in His own time. I'm sure that there were people in college who were frustrated with my lack of care and concern for social justice, but the Holy Spirit hadn't prompted my heart to that understanding yet. So I seek to be patient knowing that the Lord moves in His own timing.

But just because others aren't convicted as I am does not mean that I will stay silent. I must share what God is doing in my life because it is a powerful work! And as each one of us shares God continues to soften our hearts and reveal His truth to us. May our hearts always be softened and our ears open to hear what God is doing in this world. And may we never stop bringing God to a world so desperately in need of Him!