No Sidelines
No Sidelines
“Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.” – Isaiah 1:17
What do you do when you see injustice?
Are you familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan? If not, you can read it really quickly in Luke 10:25-37. The point of the Good Samaritan is that we are to love our neighbor and we should be a neighbor to the people we encounter who are in need.
In other words, we’re not given the option to sit on the sidelines.
We see the same thing in our passage from Isaiah 1:17, though, it takes more of a political perspective. God loves justice and He hates injustice and oppression. We are to be the same. We should love justice and hate injustice and oppression.
We shouldn’t just hate injustice and oppression when we face injustice or are oppressed, but at all times and for all people. When we see injustice or oppression around us, we are not to just sit on the sidelines.
How do we get off the sidelines?
That’s not usually a simple question to answer. However, I think there are some guidelines we can follow to move in the right direction. (Note: These are my thoughts. I think they fit what we find in the Bible, but just to be clear, these guidelines aren’t straight out of the Scriptures.)
- Pray – Seek God’s wisdom and courage. (Prayer can be the first step to just about everything we do.)
- Investigate – Things are rarely as they seem on the surface and there are always 3 sides to every story (person A’s side, person B’s side, and the truth). You need the truth. Sometimes you may find that there really isn’t injustice or that the person you thought was being mistreated is actually doing the mistreatment.
- Figure out if this battle is for you – In a sense, yes, everyone is your neighbor, but you can’t be a neighbor to everyone. There is so much injustice in the world, you simply can’t fight all the battles. You can, however, fight a few.
- Help in a way that’s helpful – One of the complaints some people have about how Christians serve is that we often serve in a way that feels good to us, but doesn’t actually help. Sometimes it even hurts the very people we are trying to help. Pray, research, and pray some more and find a way to help that is truly helpful.
- Act – Once you know the truth, decide you need to help, and figure out a way to be truly helpful, get to it. It may be scary, but just take a few steps at a time and do it.
- Keep praying – God never sends us onto the field alone. He goes with us. Keep praying. Keep seeking wisdom, discernment, strength, and courage. Keep asking God to bring justice.
Is it time to get off the sideline?
Take a few minutes to pray. Ask God if there is someone or some people you need to be helping. Then wait. Be still and wait. If God lays something on your heart, start praying about it and praying about how you can help. If God doesn’t lay anything on your heart, then ask Him to let you know when He does have something for you. Keep your eyes and ears open and keep praying.
God bless!
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
