Great Quote on Justice

In the May/June issue of Relevant magazine, Stephan Baumann, President of World Relief, wrote a great article entitled "Justice 2.0."  Here is an excerpt from that article that provides a very good definition of justice from a Biblical perspective:

Two words are used for justice in the Old Testament.  The first, mishpat, means “rendering judgment” or “giving people what they are due” and is sometimes referred to as “rectifying justice.”  The second word, tsedeqah, means “the right thing” or, especially, “right relationships” and is referred to as “primary justice.” These words are often paired together in Scripture as “justice and righteousness” and, in some rare instances, one means the other.  The Book of Isaiah even uses the word justice to mean “the sum total of what the Lord has deemed right” - or, in essence, the very will of God. . . . Taken together, mishpat and tsedaqah present a relational definition of justice, an important dimension that has been overlooked for too long.  In its fullness, justice is about right relationships - relationships that work.  Injustice is about relationships that don't.  Justice for what some call the “Quartet of the Vulnerable” - the orphan, the widow, the immigrant and the poor - is especially important to God, due to its prevalence in Scripture.  Injustice occurs when these people are left out, oppressed or exploited. . . . The Old Testament vision of justice carries through to the New and converges in the life and message of Jesus.  Jesus not only teaches justice, but he becomes justice.  Through the Cross, the very possibility of justice is made available to all, and the incarnation is both a mandate and an example to us. . . . Justice is best incarnated by the people closest to those who suffer, not only geographically, but culturally too.  When we live out justice in our relationships, we give witness to the person of Jesus and effect change. When we empower others to become the hands and feet of Christ in their own communities, we create heroes who, in turn, bring justice to a suffering world.  For a Cambodian girl sold into slavery and, in her mind, rejected from God, justice comes in the form of two followers of Christ.  For a woman who cannot feed her child, justice comes in the form of a community banker offering a micro loan or an agronomist teaching techniques to increase her crop yield. For a refugee, justice with a hospitable heart and an open home. . . . God to his people, and His people to creation.  These relationships, when stitched together justly, weave a tapestry of hope that fundamentally changes society for the better.

We hope and pray that Providence and many other orphan care providers that are loving orphans with excellence are creating such heroes who are co-laboring with Christ to humbly bring justice and shalom to a hurting, suffering world.

Tough Questions in a Culture of Relativism: Volume 4 - Why Should Anyone Care About the Plight of Orphans?

Imagine that you just returned from a trip to an orphan care community or have recently adopted an orphan.  This won’t be hard to imagine for many reading this blog because you might have actually done one of these things recently.  Well, upon your return or finalization of your adoption, you tell everyone about your experiences and share your passion for orphans with them.  You tell them about the plight of orphans and specific ways they can get involved from home and through mission trips.  You expect them to be captured with a love for orphans as you have been, and for them to want to act to love some of the world’s millions of orphans in some real way. 

Instead, when you’re done pouring out your heart, you can hear a pin drop in the room.  Or, at best, you get a polite response that sounds something like this: “That’s awesome. I love that God put that on your heart.  But that’s just not my thing.”  Or, “I am so happy for you.  That sounds like a great trip.”  Or, “I’d love to help but I have so many other things going on right now.”  Or, “I’d love to help but don’t have any extra money to help out right now.”  Or, . . ., well you get the point.

Some people may hear your stories and see your passion, and still say, “So what?  These are sad stories and these kids definitely need help to make it in society.  But why should I care?  I mean, they’re not my kids.  It’s somebody else’s problem, right?”  

That’s just it . . . it’s not someone else’s problem.  We are all affected by orphans and are all called to love orphans in some real way.

With that in mind, how should you respond to your friends and family members who just don’t get it or who think that it is “someone else’s” job to help orphans?  

Why should we care about orphans and at-risk communities when they aren’t our children, they often aren’t in our local communities, and they don’t affect our lives in any direct ways?  

And beyond caring, why in the world should anyone actually invest any of his or her precious time into figuring out how to love them with excellence and best practices?  

The reality is that if we didn’t look for these children, we would likely never see them - and even if we looked for them and saw them, they would have little, if any, direct impact on our lives.  So why should we care?  Why should anyone adopt or be a foster parent?  Why should anyone advocate for orphans in any manner?

I want to hear your thoughts on how to respond to these all-too-common questions in our society.