I sat in a dimmed auditorium listening to powerful words from a host of speakers at the Justice Conference 2015. Those two days were full of passionate leaders who are tackling extreme poverty, promoting peace in Israel and rescuing trafficked victims. Each has there own area with their own challenges. But each came back to the same place, reminding us that:
“Justice is what love looks like when we are facing the problems that our neighbors are dealing with.” – N.T. Wright
We need times like this. We need moments to talk about the hard work of justice and just be encouraged to keep going. We need to know that the fight is worth it, even when we don’t know what we’re doing, when we make mistakes, or when we find ourselves so discouraged that we don’t know if we can keep fighting this fight.
But you know what? When we come together and talk about it (whether at conferences or around a table together or in online communities) it helps us take our eyes off the hard details and point us back to the foundation we stand on.
“Justice matters because justice must be part of our worship to God.” – Eugene Cho
Rescuing vulnerable children from a life of exploitation, starvation and hopelessness is not easy. Changing generations by empowering these children to think for themselves and have opportunities to become all they were created to be is not an overnight task. Providing justice is a long, hard work. We need times to refresh, to remember, and to know that we’re not in this alone.
Today, I’d encourage you to remind someone of the bigger picture. Send a text or email to someone you know who’s fighting for justice in their corner of the world – for when we point our eyes back to the God we serve and lay down our lives for, we find strength for another day’s work.