Social Justice and The Church

For starters let me define Social Justice: Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. To me that sounds pretty good for Christians as, you know, we are all created in the image of God so should we not all have an equal opportunity in our society.

In today’s political culture it seems that it is very easy for people to become offended and at the same time it is very easy for people to become very emotional in defending their position. This leads me to the question of; where should Christians be in this discussion? I am not writing this to tell you what opinion to have on each and every topic but I am going to say as a general rule we should always turn to the example of Christ no matter what the issue at hand is.

As Christians we have guidelines for what is right and wrong in our lives but as I have mentioned before this does not give us the right to condemn others. The example of Christ teaches us to love and share the gospel. Let God take care of matters of the heart, He is more than capable of doing that. So what if someone disagrees with you, love them anyway.

The first thing we have to do is stop expecting a lost world to have the same set of values that we as believers have.

As Christians we have to understand that lost people will have a different set of views and values than we do and that is okay, it does not mean we can’t love them in spite of those differences. Too often we focus on these problems instead of focusing on how we can make effective change in society. Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” highlights Habit #3 as Win/Win in finding a situation in which both sides of a discussion can win. Unfortunately, this is not the society we live in. We currently live in a society in which everyone feels the need to be right is the most important thing in the world and we are not focusing on solutions but on who is right.

Remember, this is not a post to promote one view over another, so the following is just a highlight of the discourse in America.

Instead of focusing on who is right and who is wrong I believe Christians should be the leaders in looking for solutions that promote equality and love for our fellow brothers and sisters. I am not saying that Christians should not have an opinion but I am saying that as a Christian your opinion on an issue should be rooted in love for your fellow man, even if they disagree with you. Do not sacrifice love for being right. We do not have to sacrifice our beliefs in order to love; we just have to acknowledge them in a constructive way so that we can work towards solutions and not divisions.

As Christians sometimes it can be very important to step outside of our comfort zones and put ourselves in the shoes of those less fortunate than ourselves.

It is easy to sit inside our comfort zones and say that we donated to charity or gave to the needy but in reality have we ever put ourselves in their shoes? Have we ever considered what it is they really need? Maybe instead of a donation, they just need to know someone cares. Maybe that donation will never reach them in their situation.

This one is tricky because it might step on some toes but I feel that I should put it here: I feel that Christians should spend more time and efforts looking for solutions than defending their “rights”. Yes, as Americans we are entitled to certain rights but that should not preempt our calling as Christians. We serve God first and foremost and I thank him every day for being born in America, but should I not also consider those that are less fortunate and how we can share this blessing with them?

I whole heartedly believe in defending your rights but I also believe that as Christians we are called to share our blessings with the world and how can we share Christ with the lost if we are constantly battling against them. This is not the time of the Crusades were we can overtake them and force them into assimilation. You cannot reach the lost world if you are not open to civil discourse and looking for solutions to the problems.