Social Justice and the Love of MoneyShembull

“Living Justly, or Merely Loving the Idea” We live in a world and culture in which—both out of privilege and conviction—many people want to make an impact. This is good. In fact, this is really good. This desire needs to be affirmed, nurtured, and cultivated. However, let’s be honest with ourselves. We all love justice and compassion. Seriously, who doesn’t? But is it possible we are more in love with the idea of compassion and justice than we are with actually putting it into practice? Is it possible that we all love compassion and justice… until there’s a personal cost to it? I hope that this is simply my own confession. However, if in some way it is also yours, I’m grateful for the gift of grace and courage that allows us to examine ourselves. Enabling us to grow deeper, wiser, and more emboldened to live in a manner that reflects God’s hope, beauty, and love. It’s my hope we can examine how we engage our calling to follow Christ, and examine how we love mercy, seek justice, and walk humbly with God. Because it’s not just about us doing justice; this journey is also about allowing the work of justice to change us. In other words, we not only seek justice as we follow Jesus, but we seek to live justly. Our calling is not simply to change the world, but perhaps as important, our calling is to be changed ourselves. * How have you been loving the idea of changing the world more than actually living it out? What motivations have you noticed within yourself, which show this unwillingness to live out justice and compassion?