Love Trumps Social Justice

God's ways are higher and better than man's ways.  All God made is good, but men lose the plot by going their own way.  It seems like these days the push for "social justice" and "equality" has been frenetic.  Many people feel their "rights" are being trampled through government overreach and a lack of representation.  There appears to be an overweening sense of entitlement among people which is being expressed through protests, rallies, and proposed legislation (and pushing back against said legislation).

I saw a sign the other day which read, "Equality is a right."  I cannot agree with this statement wholesale (as catchy and popular as it might be), because the truth of it depends upon the context.  First of all, this view can only be sustained by acknowledging God's existence and rule as the United States "Declaration of Independence" states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  Based on scripture I believe the chief unalienable rights of people God has created are the knowledge of God and eternal life through Jesus Christ.  Life, liberty, and happiness are only realised through being born again and experiencing spiritual regeneration.  Things which used to be "self-evident" have today been overthrown in a sea of subjectivity.  Maybe there was a day when people believed they had a Creator, but most today do not acknowledge or live in light of this biblical truth.

All men are created equal by God, but all would agree not everyone's station in this life are equal.  God has given authority to kings and governments to make and enforce laws their subjects are to submit to, the roles of a husband and wife are distinguished by God who ordained marriage, and children are responsible before God to honour their father and mother.  When God no longer has the right to command and rule, men have nothing besides natural law which ultimately degrades into lawlessness and anarchy where all do what is right in their own eyes.  If "equality" is a right provided at random by the cosmos, there is nothing which distinguishes the nature of a monkey from a man or the authority of a child from the Prime Minister.  The great leveller of mankind is the ultimate judgment of God when all people will stand before Him and give an account for their lives.  Naked we are born, and naked we go to our graves.  People will be separated by God even as a shepherd distinguishes sheep from goats.  Even then there will be varying degrees of responsibility people have based upon their knowledge.  The punishment of the wicked will have levels of severity, even as only some of those deemed righteous through faith will receive a full reward.  No one has the right to eternal life, but God gives freely to those who meet His conditions.

Here is the point of this rambling:  social justice and human rights ought not to be the battle cry or aim of the church, but our lives should proclaim grace and love for all.  Social justice focuses on the marginalised people, those viewed as the minority, and the poor.  The Bible says we ought to help the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger.  Our motivation for doing so is not their intrinsic human rights, but because we have freely received life and love and extend it to others in joyful obedience to God.  It is all of grace, not of perceived worthiness.  Jesus did not come to earth to save us because we lacked social justice - if God gave us justice we would rightly be destroyed forever!  Jesus came as a revelation of God's love for us which does not depend upon our ethnicity, sex, age, or "good" performance.  He died unjustly on a cross so God's justice would be satisfied and we could receive the free gift of salvation when we repent and trust in Him.  The Gospel has been freely offered to all by God's grace, and we too ought to show love, compassion, mercy, grace to all people, regardless of their social status.

When we are born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and are obedient to God's leading, our good relationship with God will affect others in this world positively.  We can experience life, liberty, and joy through knowledge and obedience to Christ we can share with others.  Free from the shackles of humanism we can meet practical needs without strings attached, sharing God's love from a pure heart.  The world's concepts of love and justice are broken, but we who have been made whole have been set apart by God as His ambassadors so all might taste and see God is good.