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Pursuing Justice
#LoveGodLovePeople
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your mind and with your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31
In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus describes a man that was beaten, robbed, and left to die. While bleeding, naked on the side of the road, this man was stepped over by a priest and a Levite, who saw him in his brokenness and not only ignored him, but passed to the other side of the road. Then a Samaritan arrived and was immediately moved to action.
The scripture states that the Samaritan saw this man in his brokenness, and “he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.” (Luke 10:34).
After Jesus shares this story, he asks “which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” After the expert in the law responded with, “the one who had mercy on him was his neighbor.” Jesus replied, “Go and do likewise.”
This is who Jesus has been and continues to be to us. He saw us in our brokenness, cleaned our wounds, and paid the ultimate price for our sins. But that was never the end of the story.
Jesus entered into our own brokenness so that we can enter into the pain of others. Being a neighbor requires more of us. It requires us to get our hands dirty and dive into the messy work of mercy and justice through our resources, our compassion, and the wholeness of our efforts.
The Jesus + Justice Campaign invites believers to a greater love for Jesus and to take action towards mercy and justice. We do this by connecting Jesus-centered justice organizations with like-minded believers who wish to go and do the same.
Featured Story: OneRace Jesus+Justice Campaign
Additional resources:
OneRace is a gospel-centeredreconciliation movement that exists to displace historic racismthrough prayer, relationship, equipping, mercy & justice.
Today, people still fear talking openly about racism with their children. My three beautiful biracial children have had various versions of “the race talk” typical in black households across the country. It’s imperative to acknowledge the existence of racism while coaching my children about positive choices and godly responses.
For church leaders to effectively communicate beyond their congregation and culture — that is, to reach a broader, dissimilar audience — they should try to forge a true, interpersonal connection with those persons they want to reach. But it would help to also do some homework.