Everyday Encounter

I’ve been meaning to put this up for some time now, but it’s only now I’ve have finally found a minute between essay work and the hundreds of other things that seem to have been going on recently, so forgive me for that… 

Recently I’ve been thinking about the balance between justice and mercy. Justice meaning that people are treated as they deserve – that they are provided with their rights and are treated fairly. But, at the same time, justice can also be a case of those having done wrong not being allowed to get away with it – that they are shown justice and treated appropriately – relative to the deeds or acts they have committed.

Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God (Micah 6v8)

We are called to act justly, and to love mercy.

The bible also makes it clear that God is a just God – and so in light of that we really had better love mercy, because if God treated us only with justice, in the way that we deserve (relative to our actions and how we have lived) we wouldn’t stand a chance! Praise God for His mercy!

This got me thinking – that as Christians we are called to act justly and to not just stand back and let things happen and see people oppressed and downtrodden. We are to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and demonstrate the love of God by ensuring that people are treated as we would like to be treated ourselves. 

At the same time we are to love mercy. To show mercy to others and to not be judgmental in our attitudes towards others. The bit of the Hope2008 video that stuck out to me was about how the church should not be seen as ‘a million wagging fingers, but rather 2 million outstretched arms.’ This reminded me of the story in the gospels of the woman caught in adultery, who was humiliated and condemned (to be stoned to death) by the religious people around her – yet Jesus says simply: ‘Let him without any sin throw the first stone.’

Powerful words. 

To me it seems that living out life as a Christian is something of a balancing act between acting justly (acting for justice) and knowing that only those without any sin have the right to throw the first stone. So we need to stand up for what is right, and for those who can’t, as well as not being judgmental and critical of others – and we should be wholeheartedly loving and praising God for His mercy that treats us in a way that we haven’t earned!