This past Sunday while we were all eating our share of the 1.23 billion chicken wings that Americans consume during the ‘big game‘, others were being forced to sell themselves to line the pockets of their pimps. According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott the Super Bowl is “commonly known as the single largest human trafficking incident in the United States.” According to the article, victims of this heinous crime are expected/forced to sleep with 25-50 men per day, and failure to meet this quota could lead to beatings or worse.
Reading this, I immediately thought of all the petty, childish, unimportant things Christians fight about. Things that don’t matter, yet we are so passionate that we will call people names, refuse them fellowship, and condemn them as heretics. All the while people are suffering in ways that we cannot imagine.
We must do more.
Our faith demands more.
Basic human decency demands more.
In Micah 6 the prophet is on a soap box–as they all were–about issues of justice. Notice this challenge/calling Micah gives to us:
“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” [TNIV]
“…love is the soul of justice, and justice is the body, the flesh, of love.”
You can’t have one without the other. To love God is to care about the things he cares about…and God cares about his kids being loved, cared for, and treated with dignity.
Christians, people of all faiths and creeds actually, must join together to make a real difference in these crucial issues that have gone on for far too long.
One organization that is doing amazing work in this area is International Justice Mission. To learn more about what they are doing, and how you can help, click the link.
May we develop an awareness of all the opportunities around us all the time to join God in acting justly and loving mercy. May we come to understand that walking humbly with God means caring about, and working for, the things God cares about. May our love grow hands and feet that go, serve, and sacrifice for the oppressed.
grace and peace.
Josh Scott 