Integrity: What do you stand for? - Standing for justice - Part 1

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

Acts 5:27-42

DAILY BYTE

We are often lulled into the mistaken idea that the fight against evil is a great and grandiose struggle that is waged on a stage far beyond our reach and influence. And while there is certainly an element of truth in the cosmic proportions of evil and the fight against it, it is a dangerous distortion to see this struggle as being limited to that sphere alone. The truth is that everyday, in little and not so little ways, the powers of evil raise their heads in our midst. Everyday, the bitter seeds of injustice are being sown. The question that arises for us in the midst of this is this, ‘What are we going to do about it?’

All that is needed for evil to flourish is for good men and women to do nothing.

It was Edmund Burke who first coined this phrase, or something very similar, way back in the 1700’s. His words still ring true with a contemporary relevance today. They challenge the defence barrier that we so easily construct that the struggle against evil is beyond us. It is not! If we see little injustices in the world around us and refuse to do anything to challenge them, we are truly giving the powers of evil a foothold in our midst. As the people of God, we are called to make a difference - and by God’s grace, we can!

There are two ways in which we are all called to join the struggle against evil and to stand for justice:

The first concerns our own personal choices, conduct and convictions. Are we adding to the burden of injustice in the world, or lightening that load? Think of some of the following examples of areas where our personal conduct can either increase or diminish the burden of injustice that others bear:

• Do you pay your domestic worker a just wage? (There IS a world of difference between paying ‘the going rate’ and paying someone a wage that they can actually live on.)
• How fair and reasonable are you in your attitude towards & treatment of workers beneath you?
• How quick are you to speak up in defence of the voiceless when they are being misrepresented or maligned by others?
• In what ways do you discriminate against people on the basis of their race, gender, age, language, sexual orientation, nationality, education or socio-economic station in life?
• How conscious are you about the impact that your consumer choices have on the earth and on the poor?

Tomorrow, we’ll look at a second way in which we are called to stand for justice

Question for reflection:

The scripture passage for today is Acts 5:27-42. It tells the story of the apostles standing before the Sanhedrin bearing courageous witness to the injustice of Christ’s death. It also relates how one of the members of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee and teacher of the law called Gamaliel stood up and spoke in the apostles’ defence, probably saving them from being put to death

Mull on this story a long while. It may seem a million miles removed from your life, but think about some situation in your life that this story speaks into. What might it be saying

Choosing New Paths:

• If you have even the slightest twinge of conscience that you might be exploiting somebody economically, sit down today and start working out a plan whereby that can change. Find someone you can trust (a minister, small group leader, close friend perhaps) whom you can tell, who can help to hold you accountable in a non-judgemental but serious way.
• Much has been said about the ecological crises facing the earth, and the ways in which we contribute towards that. But still, many people do not really take to heart the responsibility that they share in this most serious concern of our time. They fail to see that this is a justice issue that is influenced by their own choices, conduct and convictions.
  
  Take a moment to consider whether you would really want the evil of ecological injustice to flourish because you did nothing. Consider the following practical action steps:
• Ask yourself how informed you are really of what is going on, and what it would take for you to become informed.
• Pick one action that you can commit to that will become the seed for the flowering of greater ecological justice in your life. Now commit to it!
• For example, decide that you will not buy another plastic grocery packet. If you go to the supermarket and you’ve forgotten to take bags along, leave the groceries. This will only need to happen once to convince yourself that you mean business with this resolve! The significance of little victories like these is that they become ramparts of justice within us from which greater sorties for justice can be launched.

 PRAYER


God of justice, when you made the world you declared that it was very good. Your intention for life on this planet is for it to be full and free. And so it really matters to you when life is diminished, compromised or exploited in any way. Change our hearts that these things might matter to us too, that we might become more and more the kind of people who will stand courageously for what is right, and who will join the struggle against injustice in every form. Amen.