At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
-Aristotle
If you walked the streets of Berlin in early May of 1945, you may have felt like you were striding a thin line between earth and hell. Smoldering fires, piles of bricks where neoclassical buildings once stood, silence and desolation except perhaps for the sound of a Soviet tank patrolling a nearby street or the barking of a hungry dog. The Battle of Berlin was over. The last of 363 Allied bombing raids over the city complete. Hitler’s charred body would soon be discovered outside his bunker. And you may have wondered to yourself, What now? What can anyone do with this devastated world? It is challenging enough to think of what it would take to rebuild the apartments and civic buildings, the museums and churches, but harder still is the question, How can anyone rebuild humanity after its periodic spasms of evil?
The world tried to recover from the disease and the destruction of Nazism while it rebuilt collapsed cities. But a mere sixteen years later the Soviets built a wall in Berlin that demonstrated that history is sometimes a process of swinging from one evil to another. In its turn the Berlin Wall was torn down twenty-eight years later, chiseled apart, pieces sold for souvenirs, and a new generation would have its turn at saying, What do we do now?
At this very moment any of us can look around and ask the same question: Who is going to rebuild this world? In the face of economic distress, extreme poverty, human trafficking, moral compromise, government corruption, and personal transgression, who has the courage to do something? To do anything? Is the world simply a lost cause? Is my family a lost cause? The office where I work? The school where I teach? The church where I serve?
No one person can solve the problems of a country, much less the world, but any person at any time can do something. That is a compelling reason to commit to being a spiritual influence. The call of God to the people of God includes this: do what you can–wherever you can–to make things right. The prophets of the Old Testament brought a message meant to simultaneously devastate pride and restore hope. Their message was this: it is never too late to turn back. God has not given up on the human race, so people should not give up on it either. We are powerless to build or rebuild human life–not just because human problems are so enormous, but because we never had the power to create or restore life in the first place. But God does use us as his instruments to make things right.
Things need to be made right in every arena of life. Educators can convey knowledge that cultivates life. Business owners can open opportunities for gainful employment. Medical professionals can bring physical comfort or healing. Parents can model to their children a life lived right. Government workers can strive for policies that serve and protect their fellow citizens. Some people have a calling to go to far places to do the work of justice. But when we just stand where we are and look around, we will see in every direction opportunities to make things right.
The prophet Micah made a simple statement that challenges us to make things right as God empowers us.
He has shown you, O mortal, 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.
–Micah 6:8
We come back again and again to this simple statement because it answers two ageless questions: What is good? What does God want?
This punchy proposition says that there is no mystery about ultimate good and what pleases God, so we have clarity and certainty and focus. Three things: do justice; love mercy; walk humbly. Three things that are really one redemptive spiritual movement: make things right (do justice) as acts of benevolence (love mercy) in the power of God (walk humbly). We memorize this verse not just because it is memorable, but because it summarizes the ethic of both Old and New Testaments. It holds together justice and love, which we so often separate. It joins strong action with humble attitude. It requires submission to God before all altruistic acts. It keeps influence in the divine–human nexus.
[to be continued… what does it take to make things right?…]
Amazing. I love how history is tied into this, it made me realize how apparent this was, and that God’s Word never changes. With God, anything is possible…and there is hope.
In the moral realm, as a Christian culture recedes in the U.S., there are such competing visions of what is “right” and what is “just” and “fair” even among those who do believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong in an absolute sense, not just what is “right for me,” that it seems to be harder and harder to arrive at a consensus of “what do we do now?” Just an observation, not meant to be defeatist.
Mel, That covers things pretty well and makes us all humbled to measure up to God’s unwaiving call upon our lives as his followers.
Really good… let’s do it day by day, starting today.
He has shown you, O mortal, 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.
–Micah 6:8
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Yes, Duane Dietze, the Judea-Christian ethic is under assault in our time, just as it was during WWII. Throughout the centuries, many Christians have been martyred for following Christ, and in our 21st Century it still is happening in too many places around the globe.
Let’s always remember that even when Christ Himself walked the Earth and performed miracles, He was rejected and murdered on a cross like a criminal.
Jesus said He was not of this world even when He walked in it; but our Savior overcame the world. (Thank you, Jesus!)
I think that is the Christian daily struggle. We too have to overcome the World, its false teachings and its false prophets. We are called “to act justly” and “to love mercy”, while the world too often bows to a different ideology. We are called to walk humbly with God, while too many deny His very existence.
The media loves to take cheap shots at Christians. I for one think Saturday Night Live must be hard pressed for talent, since it feels the need to use Jesus as a character in its skits.
Moreover, I am sick of the “secular” questioning 0f the existence of Jesus, as well as the constant “secular” questioning of the existence of God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Why the constant siege on the Holy Trinity? The assault is never ending and purposeful.
I notice I have used the words “struggle”, “shot”, “siege” , and”assault in this response. Hmmm, my word choice reminds me that St Paul said we were in a battle. Indeed, we are.
Take heart; all is well, with Christ all things are possible. (Indeed, He is risen!)