Tag: Justice

What Does Justice Truly Look Like?

You may be unsure how to look at justice, especially in light of recent events and controversies. Yet, through Jonah’s story from the Old Testament, we can learn how to go about achieving justice in the way God intended.

Justice. A word that’s been thrown around a lot recently, and for good reason. Between recognizing the need for racial reconciliation, the attacks on democracy and freedom in many countries, and most recently, the devastating acts taken against innocent people in Afghanistan.

Yet, within the church, there’s much division over the idea of justice. Some argue that we shouldn’t fight for justice because that’s not our place. Others think that if people don’t do everything within their power to achieve equity, they are not Christian. Lots of arguments have been made, but very few healthy discussions.

You may be wondering where you should stand on the justice issue. Is it wrong to fight for justice when we’re supposed to trust God? Should justice be our number one priority?

Well, I can’t give you an exact, step-by-step answer. The amount of effort you should make in any situation should depend on what God tells you through prayer, reading the Bible, and trusted people in your life who understand the situation fully. However, in this space here, I want to have an open discussion about justice. I’ve been thinking about it in light of current events, and after reading the books of Jonah and Nahum.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, justice is “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments”.

Sometimes, just looking at what a word actually means can help us understand an issue better. The word that stands out to me is “impartial”. Often, when we stake a claim on an issue, we refuse to see the other side. “What’s there to see,” we rationalize. “My side is the only humane side! If I expose myself to the other side, I’ll get brainwashed!”

The main issue when we get fixated on the way we see the world is that when people don’t receive the punishment we believe they deserve, we get angry at God. It doesn’t seem fair for them to get away so easily! If only we were in charge…

And, in certain issues, that would really make sense, wouldn’t it? Especially when innocent people are getting hurt.

God wants us to care about those who are weak, marginalized, and oppressed. In fact, Jesus calls us to do exactly that, by following His example. He demonstrated this unconditional love countless times, particularly when He came to Earth and spent time with the outcasts in society.

But as much as He wants us to care about others, He wants us to care about our relationship with Him. And one of the biggest keys to a healthy relationship is building it on trust. Trusting God is not passive; it requires active participation and listening to what God is calling us to do. Yet it isn’t easy when God is calling us to love our enemies rather than punish them.

Take Jonah’s situation for example. Jonah often gets a bad rap, and for good reason, right? On the surface, his story is all about the consequences of disobeying God, acting selfishly, and without grace. I was even more furious at him when I learned the real reason why he didn’t want to go to Ninevah. He knew that God would save those people. He hated them so much that he didn’t want them to be saved!

However, as I took a deeper look into Jonah’s story, I realized something that’s a little painful. The reason many of us, or at least I, tend to look down on Jonah is because I’m guilty of being similar to him in certain situations.

Just think about it: Jonah’s desires weren’t all that crazy. He hated the Ninevites for good reason. They were the enemy of his people. They were known to be violent and haters of God. God doesn’t take destroying a city lightly, so the fact that this was a viable threat to them shows the seriousness of the situation. Jonah saw injustice and he wanted justice to be served.

And, I’ll go so far to say, justice was served. Just…not in the way Jonah expected.

Jonah does everything he can to achieve justice his way. His act of running away may have looked like an act of fear, yet it was really strategic on his part. He was doing what he felt was right to keep his own people safe. But after his rather “fishy” experience of being saved by God’s grace, Jonah goes on to do exactly as God commanded him to do. Afterwards, he sits up on a hill in the scorching sun, where God provides him a tree, and waits for God to do His “justice thing”.

But nope. No raining fire down from Heaven or giant explosion. Nothing. Oh, except for the tree withering, which causes Jonah to have a meltdown. I always used to look down on Jonah for acting so childishly, yet when everything seems to be going wrong, it’s easy to break down and protest over the tiniest inconvenience.

To us, God’s justice seems to be the best option in this situation. People’s hearts were changed by Jonah’s words, which saves more lives than if God had destroyed the city. Then, in Nahum, we learn that when God knew the later generations of Ninevites wouldn’t have soft hearts, He ended up destroying the city, which is exactly what Jonah had wanted. Yet only God knew which hearts would change, and because of His never-ending grace, He gave the people the time they needed to grow.

But to Jonah, who could only see a sliver of what God could see, the situation was dire. Nothing seemed fair, and that’s the thing about God’s grace, it isn’t fair. But the unfairness doesn’t happen to us, necessarily. It happens to God. It isn’t fair to God to send His only Son to die for us. It isn’t fair to God to save Jonah after he disobeyed and disrespected Him. It isn’t fair to God to rescue violent people and give them a second chance. Yet it’s through His love and knowledge that’s distributed equally to us that He allows unfairness to exist. And through that wisdom, His justice is served.

The unrepentant people will be punished, even if not on Earth. But the ones whose hearts accept Jesus will be saved. And we should simply be thankful for that.

Yet, though we call for equal rights, we are often angry by God’s equal love. We don’t like that God loves people on the other side as much as He loves us. We don’t like that God gives second chances. We don’t like that our enemy has the same opportunities that we have to God’s mercy and forgiveness.

We, my friends, are like Jonah. We have received God’s grace. We have received numerous chances. We are given more than what we can possibly ask for, yet we often focus our eyes on what seems unfair to us.

I am extremely guilty of only paying attention to the present trials. I often forget that our God is a God of the future, the present, and the past. God has proven Himself time and time again. He wants us to understand that justice will be served, but not in our way, in His way. And His way is always right.

Why, you may ask, is His way always right? Because He is the only one who can comprehend the bigger picture. It’s honestly a wonderful thing to not have to be burdened with the knowledge of everything. God is freeing us from that burden and allowing us to simply be present in the lives of those around us. He wants us to continue calling out to Him, to yearn for justice, but for that justice to be out of His love and grace and discernment.

I don’t want you to stop seeking justice. I don’t want you to stop caring about people in need. That wouldn’t be biblical at all.

What I want, however, is for us to long for what God wants. I don’t want us to waste our lives second-guessing God’s choices. God knows exactly what He’s doing, and it’s for the greater good. I am praying for us to have peace as we do as much as we can to show others God’s love and realize that’s enough.

God is a God of justice and He will never fail.

When my life was ebbing away,

    I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

    to your holy temple.

Jonah 2:7

I knew that you are a graciousand compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 

Jonah 4:2

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;

    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Nahum 1:3

God Uses Every Version of You

Do you feel embarrassed about the past? Here’s some encouragement!

Do you ever look back and immediately cringe? Usually it’s not just for the outdated trends or gastly hairstyles, but for the person we used to be, so unknowing and just plain embarrassing! But our memory does change over time, and we don’t always see ourselves as the people we truly were at the time. God will use us no matter what stage of life we’re in. Just think about the people who have touched your life. They hadn’t reached “perfection” when they helped you, yet they were impactful.

I was reminded of how God moves through us, even at young ages, while reading an old journal entry last night. Back in 2019, God had given me “instinctual sympathy” for a girl at my barn who I didn’t know very well. In my journal entry from that summer, I wrote that I felt I needed to pray for her because I might be one of the only ones who was. I even off-handedly remarked that perhaps God would use me in her life someday. I had no clear reason why I felt the way I did or how true my words would be.

Fast-forward two years. I started getting to know her better and understanding what was happening in her life. She didn’t have a clear relationship with God, but I could tell she was struggling. God has given me so many opportunities to be there for her in ways I never imagined in 2019. I got chills just reading how God was preparing me to be a friend to her back in the years were I felt “ill-equipped” and “unusable”.

How often do we let age or status or other people’s opinions of us define how much impact God can have on our lives, or even how we’re able to affect others? Has that held you back from reaching out and being there for someone you know needs a friend? What if that mindset is keeping us from being the reason someone smiles or has hope for the future or even starts a relationship with God?

You have the potential to change people’s lives. We were created to positively change lives, to change the world. God is ready to grow you into an extraordinary person. The only thing holding you back is not believing you’re worth it.

Well, guess what. You are so worth it.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13

The Reason for Life

Do you ever wonder why you’re here? Here’s some encouragement.

Spending time with horses has taught me about overcoming fear, trusting others, and building relationships. But one of the greatest takeaways from spending time at the barn is an expression my instructor uses frequently: Where you look is where you’ll go.

In the horse world (and driving world, I’ve learned), this literally means that where your eyes are, that’s where you’ll end up. Horses can sense what you’re focused on and how you’re feeling, which is partially why this happens. But the main reason is that when we are focused on something, the rest of our body follows suite to get us there. We often don’t notice these subtle changes, like turning our hands or shifting our weight to one side. But our horses notice, and eventually if we’re focused on the wrong thing, we’ll notice too.

Part of my job with working with riders is taking the beginner riders on the longe line, which is this long rope that goes from the horse’s head to me. If the horse is too close to me, then he won’t go, but if he’s too far away, then I am no longer in control. This can be an issue since kids on the longe line are practicing riding without reins to get muscle control and build their core, as well as their courage. They rely on me to keep them safe, yet they have to do their part too by keeping their horse at the right distance away.

Occasionally, (okay, often), a young rider gets distracted by the other, more advanced riders out in the arena. They are looking at them instead of looking ahead in the direction they need to go. That allows the horse to take the opportunity to go where he isn’t supposed to, often ending up in a frustrating situation for all of us.

If you’re not a horse-person and you’ve stuck with me this far, great job! I promise this leads somewhere. You see, I’ve come to learn that “where you look is where you go” applies to life too. I mean, sometimes we wish this literally was the case, since then we wouldn’t have to walk anywhere, we could just appear there. But when it comes to goals, if we get distracted, we will never get to where we want to go.

More importantly, when we don’t focus on Jesus, our lives go off-course. I’ve talked about focusing on Jesus countless times, because that’s the only way to have a fulfilling life. When Jesus gets taken out of the picture, the reason behind our existence disappears too.

My friend and I were discussing the meaning of life a couple months ago. (A light topic, I know) When I really get into a conversation, I say whatever comes to me without thinking through it, which can sometimes be a good thing, actually. I told her that if we didn’t have a purpose in life (aka living for Jesus, fulfilling His will) then we wouldn’t want to life. She gave me a startled look and clarified, “So if I didn’t know my purpose, I would just want to die?”

I thought for a moment. Was that really what I meant?

Maybe it actually was.

You see, whether you realize it or not, we spend our entire lives searching for our purpose. When we finally figure things out, we realize that “knowing our purpose” isn’t having some step-by-step formula of how we want life to go. It doesn’t have to be knowing our career path or who we’ll end up with. It just means realizing our purpose is found in relationship with Jesus. Apart from that, we live empty, shallow lives.

So if you’re freaking out because you don’t have answers, don’t be scared. No one has all the answers. We may never have all the answers on this side of Heaven. But as long as you are relentlessly pursuing Jesus, you will find your purpose, I can promise you that.

You are here for a reason. You are loved.

 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:2-4

The Secret to Living a Satisfied Life

Do you feel satisfied with your life? Here is the key to making your life better.

Be honest with me (or really, with yourself)– Are you satisfied with your life right now?

If you said yes, then good for you!

But if not, and I’m guessing most of you aren’t completely satisfied with your life, then you are in good company. According to the World Happiness Report, “the pandemic’s toll on negative emotions is clear”. Many people in the world are very unhappy these days. Perhaps it’s due to searching for employment, struggling to be in good health, or just a genuine feeling of discouragement. Whatever is causing this your discontentment, I hope to bring you some encouragement.

Have you ever re-tried a food from your childhood and realized it didn’t taste anything like what you remembered? When I was a kid, I loved the white cheddar puff snack called Pirate’s Booty. (I still remember joking about the name with my friends). Years later, I tried the Trader Joe’s version of this snack, called more professionally “White Cheddar Puffs”. And let me tell you– there’s no going back. I tried Pirate’s Booty again and there wasn’t even a competition. While I could (confession time!) devour a bag of Trader Joe’s snack in a day or two, it took me weeks before the Pirate’s Booty was consumed. Once we know what’s better, there’s no going back, right? We only want the really good stuff.

A lot of times we tell ourselves that once we have ____, then we’ll be satisfied. Maybe you fill in the blank with being in a relationship, feeling represented, not falling into the same temptations, etc. Those things have deeper roots: love, justice, wisdom, joy. Love and justice are particularly longed for these days. And those are all good things, great things in fact. Things that are necessary for our lives.

But I stumbled upon this verse the other day that stopped me in my tracks.

But you must return to your God;

    maintain love and justice,

    and wait for your God always.

Hosea 12:6

Before we can have love and justice, and pretty much any other necessary aspect of life, we need God first. Until we seek God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will not feel content with our lives. We’ve been taught that it’s wrong to ache for something greater, but that’s just natural. Listen to that ache, and instead of turning to something temporary, turn to God. God is the only One who can fill that empty place in our lives.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Once you get that job, relationship, or whatever it is you currently desire, you aren’t going to feel content. You will just move on to the next need. Nothing on Earth can truly satisfy us. But when you place your entire life into God’s hands, no matter what you are going through, you won’t lack anything. And the best part of it is that we can turn to God at any time! We don’t have to wait for someone to approve of us or for the world to reform. God is ready and willing to love you right now. He already does. All He’s waiting for is you to accept His call.

And when you place God at the center of your life instead of worldly goals, there’s no going back. You won’t even want to go back, because you will finally feel that contentment and peace your heart’s been longing for. You know, the really good stuff.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Matthew 22:37

For Such a Time as This

Queen Esther made the choice to trust God and fulfill her purpose, despite her fear. How have you struggled to be courageous?

I’ve often heard people make the excuse “I can’t do this because I’m not a brave person”, like bravery is a personality trait or something. No, it is not. I believe that anyone can be brave. Yes, including you.

Fear is the enemy’s favorite weapon against us. He uses it to trick us into not fulfilling our purposes. God knows that we need encouragement to be brave, which is why He reminds us over 300 times in the Bible to not be afraid. So, if you’re trying to figure out what God wants you to do every day, it’s to get rid of fear!

But the thing is, being brave doesn’t mean we aren’t afraid. We can only be brave when we overcome something we’re afraid of; when we take action despite our fear.

My very favorite female Bible character is Esther. What’s not to love? As a kid, we learned in Sunday school about how brave, devoted, and loyal she was. She’s the model for what a young woman should be, right?

Well, what actually makes me appreciate her even more is that she’s more human than we often make her out to be. Her initial response to her cousin Mordecai’s request for her to stand up for her people, to use her power and position in the best way possible, was not one of eagerness and bravery. She didn’t immediately say, “Yes, I absolutely will risk my life for you all!”

No, she actually told him that she couldn’t do what he requested because she would put her own life in danger. She allowed her fears to get the best of her.

But thankfully, Mordecai didn’t accept that response. He pushed her to step out of her comfort zone in order to fulfill God’s purpose for her, which is what we should do for our loved ones too. He reminded her that she was created for just a time as this.

Even with these words, Esther didn’t immediately take action. She needed guidance from God, more than usual, so she asked Mordecai to tell all their people to fast and pray for her. She agreed to go before the king, but that threat of dying was still in the back of her mind. That fear wasn’t gone, which was apparent in her next course of action.

She came before the king, and instead of bringing up the issue right away, she asked him and Hamaan (the one trying to kill all the Jews) to come to a feast she prepared. Perhaps this was all a part of her plan, or perhaps she was too nervous to tell him what she really wanted right away. Likely it was a little of both. I’m sure we’ve all had that moment where we’ve created a plan of action when trying to do something we’re afraid of doing in order to feel more in control. Making a plan is totally fine as long as we seek God’s wisdom while making it.

It took two feasts before Esther got up the courage to ask the king to spare her people. She did it afraid. She did it after not wanting to earlier. She second-guessed herself and had to create a plan of action before doing what God wanted her to do.

But she still did it and saved her people. She still fulfilled her purpose. She wasn’t any less brave for doing it afraid. Because essentially, she did it.

What’s something God’s calling you to do today? Is fear holding you back from fulfilling your purpose? Remember, nothing is impossible for you when God is your strength. You are put in this situation for just a time as this and you have the same God-given power and abilities Esther received to do what you need to do.

Now’s the time to do it.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14

But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

Luke 18:27

Days Like Today

Today has been hard.

Recently I started a Bible study about spiritual warfare. The enemy knows our weaknesses so well. But when we are attacked more, we are tricked into believing that we are not being effective. That our presence does not matter. That we are weak.

The opposite is true. When we are attacked, the enemy sees us as a threat. We are doing good work.

But when we believe the lies, we are silenced.

One weakness of mine is the fear of driving. I had a bit of anxiety this morning because I needed to drive myself farther than I have in a while. I get after myself for being upset because it’s been a year since my car accident, and I don’t like fear holding me back.

I have incredibly vivid dreams, and sometimes they come true. This is more of a curse than a blessing a lot of the time, because I’ve had a lot of sleeping issues due to these incredibly realistic nightmares. Last night, to add to the anxiety already building, I had a terrible nightmare about getting into a car accident again.

I had these reoccurring nightmares for months, but they hadn’t resurfaced again until recently. I hate feeling weak. I hate feeling out of control. I hate feeling useless and set back.

I had the opportunity to go to an amazing event today. My church, along with several others, held a March for Surrender in honor of Juneteenth and to support our beloved Black brothers and sisters.

God surely wanted to use this event to draw people closer to Him. God wanted everyone there. God wanted me there.

But the enemy pulled out two weaknesses this time.

I’ve had some difficulties in my family lately, and that’s been weighing heavily on my heart. Today all those feelings seemed to explode while I was at the event.

In addition, I struggle with comparison and allowing others to define my worth. The entire point of the event was to support one another and affirm our value and differences. But I felt a lot of strong emotions that greatly hurt me in the past, like loneliness and worthlessness, and suddenly I was overwhelmed.

The speakers proclaimed the truth about how we need to take action. We cannot sit idly by and ignore the injustices in our world. We need to look beyond ourselves and stand up for those who have been forced down.

But the enemy was trying to get me to only focus on myself and my insecurities.

You may have had a day like today recently. You may feel misunderstood.

I have been told so many times by the enemy that I have no future. That I have no purpose. That I am meaningless. That my presence does not matter.

You may be feeling those things right now.

But I’m here to tell you that God has a wonderful future in store for you. God has an incredible purpose that only you can fulfill. You have meaning. You matter. You are needed.

Days like today come and go. Sometimes we just suffer through them silently. Other times we come to God or to other people.

 I could’ve let today be wasted. But I’m not going to let the enemy win. I’m going to use today to draw closer to God. I’m going to use today to empathize with others who are struggling to remember their value. I’m going to use today to empower myself and others to fight for justice. I’m not going to let today be focused on me. I’m not going to let today belittle the very real problems that others are facing that I need to be focused on helping resolve. I’m not going to waste today.

I know I’m not the most popular blogger, writer, photographer, person. Most people don’t even know my name. Hardly anyone knows my story. But if even one life is touched because of what I’ve put out there, then I will be fulfilled.

I pray for everyone who reads my words. Now I’m asking you to also pray for me. Prayer is the most powerful weapon. Pray against all the enemy is trying to do to attack God’s people. More than anything, we need to unify and defend our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are strong.

Filling Up From the Well

There is so much for us to think about as we grieve how our nation has treated people with injustice and without understanding. These days may feel dreary for you, whether you are personally affected or joining in the grieving. Today my pastor spoke on this issue, and how the most important thing we can do is listen to those who are hurting right now.

A lot of us are going through different seasons in our lives, whether we are dealing with issues related to what’s going on in the nation or not. I’m sure that you have people in your life that need to feel God’s unconditional love from you. But the hardest thing to do is give out that love when we have the wrong priorities.

Sometimes we give so much because we feel like we have to. God will equip us with everything we need, but we have to spend time praying, listening to God, and resting before we can give out that love to others. We need to drink from the well before we can give the living water to others.

There is so much I could say. There is so much I want to say. But instead I would like you to reflect on whether or not you are effectively showing God’s love to others. Have you been able to feel nourished too? Take care of yourself as well as others, but remember that everyone comes from different situations. Everyone has a different past. Everyone is a precious human being created in God’s image and deserves life and love. Whether or not you can relate to them doesn’t affect whether or not you can be an effective brother or sister in Christ to them. If you respect them and are there for them, then you can make them feel seen and loved.

The best thing you can do right now is to demonstrate God’s unfailing love without judgement. Listen, pray, and take time to just sit in God’s own love for you too.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

-1 John 4:16