Micah’s exhortation (6:8) to God’s people reminds us of what the Lord requires of us, and what is good, according to His eternal perspective.  In light of the immense needs and injustices, as well as the absence of love in our own communities and in the world today, we need to continuously reflect on this penetrating truth, completely internalize it, and act consistently upon it.

On doing justice…

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of God’s throne (Psalm 89:14). God loves justice and abhors injustice. To know God, we must understand how much He delights in love, justice, and righteousness. But, even though we claim to know God, we forever turn a blind eye towards the countless injustices we see among us in the here and now. We accommodate ourselves to the systems of this world that favor a few and unjustly treat the rest. We seek our own well being above the well being of those around us. How is this so commonplace among us as followers of Jesus?  Many would redefine the richness of biblical justice, which is referenced 134 times in the Bible, simply in terms of righteousness.  And then we limit righteousness to personal rightness, upstanding character, or individual holiness.

Yet, the fundamental social implications of biblical justice go far beyond this kind of individualistic righteousness we substitute it with. We are required to right the wrongs, both big and small, in order to actively “do” justice.  We are required to be aware of the distorted systems that frame our present world with injustice and to struggle against them as we follow Jesus.

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