Welcome back again to another podcast of Struggling Well. We're glad that you've joined in to listen. And Suzi, I'm going to turn it by starting start it by turning it over to you and something that's been running through your mind and collectively through both our minds.
You know, if you've been listening to us for a while, you've probably heard Jimmy say that very phrase many many times. Suzi, what's been stirring in you? And you know, I'm I am kind of like a pot of soup. There's all sorts of stuff in the bowl, but there's always I'm always bubbling and boil not boiling in anger. I mean that, but there's always something going on in my head. I've made reference to this before, and I don't know if you've heard it, forgive me for repetition, but my brain is kind of like a dryer with a case of ping pong balls in it, constantly on the move all the time. It's hard to get to sleep. It's hard to wake up because my brain is always going.
Well, no, that's one of the things that I love about you and it's one of the things that, you know, as a church for years, we held to three core values. One of those that we wanted to be stirred by the word of God. And I love that you come to God's word not just to learn new things, which I'm not saying you don't. not just to see it as some kind of academic study that oh I can tell you this verse, this verse, this verse, but because you really believe it stirs your life
and there's a lot of stuff and Jimmy and I are very different. He is a an inward processor. but when he speaks, you want to stop and listen because he's been giving it a lot of thought. I am an external processor. So That means that I process out loud. it doesn't mean that I haven't given it thought. It just means that I really enjoy hearing what other people have to say. And so I process a lot out loud. And Jimmy and I have been on a couple of road trips. So we've been in the car together a fair amount. And I am fortunate enough to have a husband that actually speaks to me in the car. Some of you girls, I know your husbands don't speak. I at it. Nor do they let you go to the bathroom. Jimmy, after 50 years of marriage, he I've taught him well.
But sort of
sort of I still have to tell him like 20 miles ahead that I that I'm probably going to have to use a restroom in 20 miles because he'll pass 10 exits and then I'm, you know, at bursting point. But that has nothing to do with what I want to talk about, what we want to talk about. as you've read the news and as you see what's happening in life, there's a ton of injustice going on. A ton. I've always been interested in court cases and police cases and you know I'm I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to be a police woman. I don't want to do any of that. But I'm intrigued by the struggle that occurs with injustice. And so I a lot of times my justice meter goes way off scale and I find myself and oh such a tizzy which I know Jimmy you can attest to when I go crazy with there. But I've been thinking a lot about injustice. And as believers, what are we supposed to do with injustice? First, let me read you a definition of what injustice is. Or justice is determining what's right based on principles of equity and correctness and to be reminded of that accordingly. So there are the scriptures give us laws of life. We are not under the law, but those principles are still what we are to live by. In other words, do not kill is still do not kill. do not commit adultery is still do not commit adultery. Do not steal. None of that has changed. But as we've watched the world kind of destroy itself, we're seeing a lot of injustice. So what did God feel? What did God feel in the Old Testament? What does he feel now about injustice? And anything crossed your mind?
Well, I do think that he is a first of all, he is a God of justice. And again, timetables his and ours probably vary. but in the Old Testament in the book of Micah, God is talking to his people and he asks this question, "Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with 10 thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" And then he goes on and says, very familiar verse from Micah 6:8, "He has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord here it comes require of you and then he says this to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. And so God is a God of justice and he asks of us or requires of us to do justice
and to love kindness and I think that's the kindness towards one another and then ultimately to walk humbly with him. So it's not about the sacrifices which God himself was the one who put sacrifices in place. for his people to come and to worship him. But that's not what he's asking of us. He's asking of us to pay attention to how we choose to live.
in the Old Testament throughout God refers to justice. In Deuteronomy, there's a passage. I've lost it right now, but he it says, "Do not twist justice. Let true justice prevail." Now, I read that in the context of this world where there looks like justice is not prevailing, where it feels like innocent people are suffering at the hands of injustice whether it's on a local, national or global level. There's a ton of injustice. we've been reading in the news of just large groups of Christian people in various African nations and Europe as well that are being slaughtered for their faith. That feels unjust to me. but we are not as believers to twist justice to make us feel good. in the Psalms over and over again it says that God hates injustice. It's in Isaiah, but I went to Romans in the 12th chapter and it says this. Let me read it to you from the NLT. Don't pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Don't be lazy. Work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Now, he's speaking to believers there. And some of the thing some of the things that have been disturbing to me is the way as we believers treat one another when we see injustice between brother to brother. and then he goes on to say, "Bless those who persecute you. This is upside down living, you guys. This is not This doesn't fit our culture today because it's you did me dirty, I'll do you dirtier. But as a believer, we are to bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them. And then Paul states in Romans, what is crazy to me, pray for them. Pray that God will bless them. That's so countercultural. Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people and don't think you know it all. But here it comes. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Yeah. And so I look at it I you know I'm pretty simple in things. It doesn't mean it takes away the tension for me. But this is what I believe
that as an individual I go back to Micah 6. What does he require of me? to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with my God. And that's what he requires of me as an individual. And that's what Paul is saying there in Romans 12. Ultimate justice is going to come when God sets this world right. When he when his son returns again and he makes all things new again. I'm not responsible for ultimate justice. And there's a tension there for me.
God, why are you why are you waiting?
But then but for me as an individual, I don't think it's an excuse. Just because the world is spinning out of control or situation feels beyond my ability to change it, it doesn't excuse me from not doing justice in my world as I come in contact with people. Loving kindness and walking humbly with God.
And where in scripture, where is there a place where God says, "You are the one who says what someone deserves and doesn't deserve."
Right? And that's where I go. He is ultimately the judge. And so whether it's whether you go to Micah or whether you go to Paul and in Romans 12, it's very clear what God wants us to how he wants us to live as his representatives here in this earth.
And I think that in the community of believers, the body of Christ, where things have the potential to fall apart, and they often do, is there can be a mess in your church, a mess in your community because we take on the role of God in determining what is just and injust and how God should act. We're busy. We all know the story of the woman caught in adultery, but we're all standing there with stones. All of us. And so if you're in the midst of something and you got a stone in your hand, you've got to you got to remember if you're without sin, if you've never done anything wrong or injust in your life, go ahead and chuck that stone. But that's not the case.
Yeah. And so as you live in a world that when we look around we can see is filled with injustice. And again Suzi said it well. You can take it on a global level with nations against nations. You can take it on a local level. You can take it into your individual world. Am I going to live in such a way that reflects who Christ is and how I live with one another, including within the body of Christ? Yeah.
or do I choose to take matters into my own hand? And our hope and prayer is that as hard as it is and as much as there's tension in it, you and I choose to live in a way that reflects who he is and allow him to be the ultimate judge of things.
Thanks for being with us.