She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. 'Pray for the President': Trump and First Lady Test Positive for COVID-19, 7 Reasons Why Some Churches Have Reopened and Others Have Not, This site is a proud member of the Salem Web Network, a subsidiary of, Copyright © 2020, Crosswalk.com. What can we do differently tomorrow than we did today? What does that look like? Whatever you think of your personal responsibility to the problems in this world, Christians are not allowed to ignore their brothers and sister’s in Christ around the world. Heavenly Father, no one is righteous, not one. Shalom means belonging to an authentic and nurturing community in which one can be one’s true self and give one’s self away without becoming poor. Shalom: The most accurate biblical language is that of shalom, which can be succinctly translated: nothing missing, nothing broken. A disciple of Christ cannot sit idly by nor allow his or her community to stay removed from the brokenness of the world. These definitions are helpful in outlining everyday opportunities. Righteousness, which is the perfect holiness of Christ, comes from God alone. For example: building relationships across race and class in your community, extending biblical hospitality to refugees and immigrants, or mentoring an at-risk child. Are there ethnic, gender, or class divisions in your Church? Living lives of love and justice then is about restoring shalom and weaving the fabric of society back together through all of the above ways of being engaged. Simply thinking through creative ways you can be involved in or with each of those levels is how an everyday life of love and justice begins. Are you willing to be politically active to work for polices that lead the way in ethical trade? His lead is incarnate. Jesus says the following about righteousness: We should seek righteousness (Matthew 6:33). This is because “social justice” is simply not a big enough term for our God and is not an apt description of what we are called to as Christ-followers. Create change by working to reform the education system, creating a school with no race/class barriers to entry, changing laws, helping enforce laws, being politically active, serving on local boards, redeeming social and/or cultural systems, and creating a better “kingdom” system within the bounds of the law. It shouldn’t surprise us that soldiers need to wear a breastplate going into a battle. Her modern-day Daniel, Blaze, (Illuminate YA) Den (releasing July 2020), Dear Hero (releasing September 2020), and Dear Henchman (releasing 2021)  Find out more about her at her website. Your community must work together collectively as well as collaboratively with other communities, law enforcement, and local government to bring light to dark places and drag darkness into the light. We cannot attain right living and salvation on our own. Perhaps the Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegarrd’s wry challenge to Christianity’s ability to theologize itself out of true service is the most fitting: “The matter is quite simple. The venerable Nicolas Wolterstorf lends key insight: “We must add the ideas of justice, harmony, and enjoyment to capture the full meaning of the word. To hunger and thirst for righteousness means loving what God loves and taking a stand against what He hates. Compassion: The strict meaning of compassion is “to suffer with.” Com = With, Passion = To Suffer. No matter who you are, where you are, or what resources and skills you possess, God has prepared good works that He intends for you to do–and in fact, that He created you to do (Ep. To learn more about the meaning, context, and purpose of each piece of armor in the spiritual life of the believer, visit the articles below. Our character begins to follow Christ’s lead as we interact with people through love. Righteousness comes from God alone, but righteous living isn’t a one-and-done deal. If you already know the beatitudes you know living the beatitudes in your everyday life is very important (Examples of living out the Beatitudes, n.d.). Like all other pieces of the armor of God, they can only come from our Savior. We also see ourselves. Is your church community known by a Christ-like love for one another? Only there do we change. A life of love and justice must start here–with dying to self so that Christ might be glorified through us. Perhaps “glocal” is the new way to say it. I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if given time, will rend the hardest monuments of pride.” ~William James. No matter what these temptations may promise, they cannot promise me eternal life, joy, or love, which comes from you alone. In the words of Philip Yancey, “You say you care about the poor. A call to completely give up the life we have planned so as to have the life awaiting us. Christ redeems us, transforms us, and makes us holy so that we can love and serve others. “As one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” Parts of the body of Christ are living daily with extreme poverty and oppression so we must find ways to live with them and for them. 2:10). “The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin. God enables us, through Christ, to enter into the injustices we are presented with, but we forget that. Think, for example, of the emancipation of women, the downfall of apartheid in South Africa, or the civil rights movement in the USA. In the headlines and on your street, the brokenness of humanity cries out through division and suffering: extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor seems to grow exponentially; human slavery reaches an all time high enslaving nearly 2 million lives; the luxury products you buy often begin at the hands of workers experiencing unfathomable violence; entire continents are in desperate need of clean water; millions of children are literally starving to death; violence takes the lives of children around the world, including US cities; racial and ethnic divisions remain rampant; men and women live and die in anonymity on crowded city streets–the list goes on and on. What does a life of love and justice look like–with our time, with our giving, with our prayers, with our purchases, with our vote, with our voices, in our minds, in our homes, in our community, in our city and globally (Mat. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. Paul actually uses the breastplate to describe other virtues: the breastplate of faith and love (1 Thessalonians 5:8). We have no excuse for passing on the far side of the road in our daily lives. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.” ~Albert Schweitzer. If we resist the devil, he will flee from us. This type of weaponry protects vital organs, secured by a belt, which we discussed in an earlier article. 5:14–16)? When we continually put on the breastplate of righteousness, we secure it with the belt of truth, to keep the breastplate in place. If I were to ignore it I would have to come up with some sort of alternative truth. Doing nothing is not an option. Does your church structure exclude others or align with/perpetuate oppressive systems? That being said, once saved, God does give us the Holy Spirit to steer us in the way of righteousness, away from sin. Jeremiah 23:5 describes Jesus as a “righteous branch.” Throughout the Old and New Testament, we see branch and plant imagery in regards to God (John 15). Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Justification comes through a one-time commitment to Christ. Shalom is translated peace, but our translation of peace is too weak. Moving on now, to the second part of seeking the Lord in our everyday life: Seeking through prayer . Our human selfishness requires us to be continuously “woken up” from our indifference. Some definitions will help our search for everyday clarity: Awareness: Bringing attention to the injustices and suffering in the world is a constant need. Romans 6:18 describes Christians as slaves or servants of righteousness. There is also the Priest and the Levite (consider them a pastor and a church elder these days). However, this Beatitude has nothing to do with material things, your work ethic, or how you handle money. This is the essence of living a life of love and justice–entering into the daily reality of others and reflecting the love of God into their lives. This includes praying for others before yourself and making God a part of everyday life through devotions, uplifting entertainment, attending church, and giving back to the community. All rights reserved. Are they willing to embrace those who are different? Part 2: Engage Personally “I am done with … Maybe it’s a certain place, a certain group of people, a certain activity. Yet, biblical social justice means something deeper and more specific that we often struggle to define. Now, to start, let’s face it, there will never be a way to simply “add justice” to your already good life–no seven easy steps to a life of love and justice, no box to check on the modern Christian profile sheet, no simple measure that lets you feel good about making a difference in your “spare time.”. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Donate anonymously to charity. How will I ever get on in the world? He was a man of prayer. Do your people harbor racist, sexist, classist, or any exclusive attitudes? You are a part of that movement by divine design. Would/could your homeless friend be comfortable sitting with you during a Sunday service? Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 12:24–26. Through Christ we are called to participate in the “in-breaking” of His amazing Kingdom here and now; representing a new reality that we are constantly inviting others into. “I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions and big success. Yes, but righteousness doesn’t mean saying a prayer once and then going on with our lives as though nothing has changed. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”. Being poor in spirit means placing God and others above yourself. Therefore, mankind has decided that there is no truth, and anyone who declares they know what is, is a fool. Often this comes when one-on-one friendships are formed with “the least of these” in equal relationship. All, for the most part, were driven by a strong sense of unfairness among first a few, and then many more, and not just among the disenfranchised groups concerned. Are you willing to boycott products made using bonded labor or that cause violence/war such as some textile factories, some jewels, some agriculture such as chocolate production, and many of the minerals in our electronics? In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus offered up a model prayer that you can use as an example of how to talk to God. You cannot commute to a calling. Are you willing to disadvantage yourself to ensure they share in the advantages of society.

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