During this tragic, unjust, and heartbreaking time it can be easy to lose hope. Lose hope for change and equality. It can be easy to lose faith in humanity and unity. It can be easy to lose love in anger and injustice.
“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public”
Cornel West
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Right now, these are all we have, and we cannot lose them. This is a time for grieving, for action, for speaking out and bringing forth change. But we cannot do it without faith, hope, and love; hope that equality is not just a dream but can become a reality; having faith that humanity is capable of eradicating injustice; having love while fighting for that change and mourning with those who are treated unjustly.
So, what does that look like? I think it looks like Micah 6:8 when we are told that:
“He has shown you, O mortal, 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.
I believe this is more than just a nice cliché to use in any kind of justice work, or the go-to verse only in times a light is shone on social injustice. This is who we are to be ALL the time. It is a call to a way of life. Yes, there is action that must be followed up with our words, but there is a sense that we are to “be” justice, not just “do” justice.
Taking action will naturally flow out of us as we “be” justice to a hurting world that so desperately needs it. “Being” justice is not a one-time event when something horrible comes to our attention, it is a forever heart that loves and fights for justice while showing mercy and doing so humbly. Here is what that could look like:
Educate Yourself
Educate yourself on social justice issues, read books and watch stories of those who have lived injustice and be open to their perspective, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable, challenges your belief system, or you disagree with them; show them mercy and love by learning from them;
Actively Listen
Active listening is not an easy thing to do. Usually while we are “listening” we are thinking about the thing we want to say next, or the point we want to debate, or that clever statement that you know will just completely change their mind. It is rare that we truly listen to hear a person’s story, to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, to hear another’s pain through their mind’s eye, not our own, this will require humility.
Loving Can Heal
The only thing that can heal the kind of suffering we are seeing now is love; a love that surpasses all understanding; a love that sees brokenness and wants to be a part of the solution, not add to the chaos.
Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor, and author of the book Night said, “The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference.” We cannot pretend that we have not seen, that we have not heard, that we do not know, that we have not been called to “be” justice.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
This devotion is taken from a training I did when I was the Clinical Director and Therapist at The Well, which is a home for women who have been sexually exploited and trafficked. Although the topic is different than the racial inequality we are currently witnessing, it I the issue of any injustice that I am addressing. May we be forever changed by a call to “be” justice.
