Tag: Justice

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Doing Justice

There are many cries for justice in 2026, many hateful governments, groups, ideologies, and -isms in the world today. As hateful events happen closer to where we live, we feel anger, frustration, and perhaps even sometimes conflicted about the reassurances of the Bible, such as “…do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50). In high school, I participated in a protest against the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. That was my first real taste of the efforts for justice on an international scale. The situation was horrific, and yet as a teenager it felt far enough away to not feel threatened that the same would happen at home.

Since then, genocide that did stop 20 years ago in Sudan has recently resurfaced. I felt unsettled because I knew that the underlying problem of hate was not replaced with love. Hearts were not changed. Those protests and efforts that lasted a little while didn’t result in lasting peace. This same pattern tragically continues in many places in the world. So, what do we do when we realize that human interventions prove unsuccessful to stop acts of hate in the long term?

We can easily feel powerless to stop hate. There are hateful things even in our own circles of friends and family members that we can’t change. Jesus promised that those who believed in Him would be hated, “and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). That we understand; Jesus is confronting and can be triggering to many; He warned those who believe in Him of this.

Yet, Jesus is the only way to find True peace. He is able to change hearts filled with hate and turn even the most hopeless situations around; and we can pray with faith that He will! “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me‘” (John 14:6). As much as the world likes the idea, the Truth is that there are are not multiple ways–Jesus is the only way to life. To follow His way is to love as He loves, and to trust that He will help us expel hatred from our own hearts.

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). After seeing human efforts to stop hate fail for over twenty years now, and going through many times of feeling powerless, I can take heart in the difficult words of Jesus, to “love our enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Now I see loving our enemies as a way to do the justice that human efforts to stop hate cannot do. Doing justice can be to earnestly love the hearts of those who do evil things in obedience to Jesus’ command, and pray for Jesus’ blood to cover them too.

Paul wrote, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). To love our enemies we must humbly remember that in the face of God’s holiness and righteousness, without Jesus we are no different than those who act in hate. We are all in desperate need, for the covering of Jesus’ blood to pay our debt before God, no matter our sin or the state of our hearts.

We give the fight for justice over to God when we choose to love in the face of hate. This involves letting go of what the world is telling us to hold tight. God desires to avenge evil Himself; He is the only True Judge. Paul wrote, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Jesus prepared us for this present hate, and He knew it was coming, saying, “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10). In preparation for this time, Jesus taught His followers to love.

We don’t get what our sin deserves when we are in Christ, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). How is this just? Though we all deserve the responsibility for our sin, we could not pay the price for it. Jesus came because He could make a way to pay for it on our behalf. Because of His love for us, His blood payment is now available to cover anyone’s sin debt who believes in Him, even those who have perpetrated hate and done injustice. Justice was served by Jesus’ blood. He took our place. He was and still is a God of justice. Trusting Jesus’ fulfillment of justice for our souls and the grace provided by His sacrifice allows His love to reign in our hearts, which we are commanded to share.

God is looking to partner with us and the love He’s given us through the Holy Spirit to transform and change even the hardest of hearts with love. God is after human hearts. He doesn’t operate the same way as this world of threats and fear-based consequences. It’s when we follow Him and learn to operate in His way, the way of the Kingdom of heaven, that we are free from fear.

May Jesus reign in our hearts. He is the only Way to a truly just world.

“The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14, NIV).

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)?


“They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:19, NIV).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Endure Until the End

It is a heroic characteristic to endure. If we are able to have the blessing of sticking it out in this life, we endure its hardships and suffering. But movies send the misleading message that right after hardship, things immediately get better and stay that way. Reality, however, doesn’t pan out that way. Yet, because Jesus gives us hope beyond this world, we can endure, and if we have the faith, we can also trust that Jesus will make it all worth it in His Kingdom.

Jesus said of the end times, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12-12). We aren’t promised better times; in fact, we are assured that the wickedness we must endure will get progressively worse.

Love must not grow cold in us, but must be kept warm in our hearts in order to endure, and we are warned that most people will fail at this. It is love that indicates our ability to stand firm to the very end.

Love is first on the list of fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. In my own experience, love is not possible without the help of the Holy Spirit. I am keenly aware how much my flesh opposes love, a tension I’ve wrestled hard with; the world tells us we “love” each other just fine thank you very much, but the world’s love is not God’s unselfish, uninhibited, deeply caring, unconditional, eternity-enduring LOVE. The flesh, or the desire for self-preservation and avoidance of pain, gets annoyingly in the way of that kind of love.

To die to self is the only way to let the God-given, miraculous kind of love flow through us, and to choose to live by the Spirit instead of the flesh. As far as I’ve been able to learn in my journey, to deny the flesh and live by the Spirit is what we must do to be able to endure in love until the end of this age.

On days like today, my flesh wants to enter into the world’s system and way, and fight on my own strength from a place of fear disguised as anger and a sense of rightful injustice. Today I need to work extra hard to remember the Truth–that “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14). And that we are not of this world, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20). We are to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), (because isn’t that hard enough for us?), and trust that God will provide, no matter how bad things look.

A necessary disclaimer I must add here is that of course I know that there are those whom God has given the strength to work for justice in this world, even among the increase of wickedness, and they are doing good and necessary work that I admire and applaud. But anyone who works against the tide of wickedness and endure in love must be given a God-given purpose in their work, not of fear. It’s the fear-driven anger I feel that tells me that work is not mine to do. And that is the perspective I’m coming from it all with today.

Things are getting harder. But God has not let us be blindsided by this fact; He warned us long ago. And He calls us to endure. Endure in faith. Endure in love. Endure in hope. “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:3). To endure, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Amen.

Remember that out of great tribulation comes a promise, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17).

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord‘” (Romans 12:17-19).

“Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3: 12-14).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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The Profound Sufficiency of Christ

The ugliness of this world has been exposed, maybe more than anyone alive today has ever seen, in these draining days of COVID-19, political unrest, and violence. Quarreling in and among friends over how to think about these issues seems to be the new norm. 

My soul, along with that of many others, is heavy for this world. The impact of the many stresses on society takes a toll on us individually, with deep uncertainty about the future. There is still no clear end in sight. This is nothing new under the sun, yet aspects are new to us and the globe. 

Can our souls find real rest in this kind of world? We will not find answers in delusion, nor will we will find them in the world itself. This world has never been sufficient to fulfill us, and that truth is now starkly apparent to all who are willing to see. 

I’ve been struck this week with the profound truth of Christ’s sufficiency, and wanted to share thoughts about His infinite goodness, even in the face of 2020. He knew of all the suffering and pain that would happen this year; He endured the painful weight of it on the cross long ago.   

What does Christ’s declaration, “My grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 12:9) mean for us?

There is hope in the midst of pain, even now! Especially now. Let us pause for a moment and let it sink in that even now, God has already provided for us, our every need, by His infinite grace. How immeasurable His grace is to completely cover the pain of this world! 

We can’t earn or make fulfillment for ourselves in this world no matter how much we try. There is no perfect human system that will “fix” everything or “solve the problems.” Should we still try? Absolutely. We certainly must seek justice and defend the oppressed (Isaiah 1:17) in every way we can. However, the world’s problems all stem from sin, which only Christ has the authority to address. Putting all of our hope (and attention) in human solutions will do nothing but let us down again.  

Hope that lasts can only be found in Christ. 

Christ Jesus declared through the Apostle Paul that His grace is sufficient. He has provided for the lasting fulfillment of each and every soul by addressing the sin that plagues it head on. His grace is sufficient to cover our sin–and the vast chasm that formed between us and God the Father when sin entered humanity. 

To clarify, I do not believe that God is at fault for our sin in any way. This world the way it is is not the result of God’s mess-up. I believe that after humans chose to sin, God then had a choice to make, and chose for sin to operate the way it does now for the ultimate good of all; as it is written, “For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Romans 11:32).

It is God’s character not to set us up for failure, but to show us all His great mercy. 

His grace is sufficient to give us hope for a future in the presence of our merciful, good, loving Father. What Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 of the sufficiency of Jesus speaks of hope in the midst of frustrating human limitation:        

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 

But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7b-10).

I can’t help but think of COVID-19 and long-standing physical violence as similar both to Paul’s “thorn” and to the “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties” he endured. Disease and violence have plagued humanity for millennia, and they have clearly not gone away. Yet, by Jesus’ sufficient grace, we like Paul can delight even when these things are upon us. Jesus gives us the ability to delight in our lives in 2020!

Christ is not just sufficient to ease our minds about an afterlife, He is sufficient to give us life in the present. 

Romans 8:35 says that even tribulation, distress, persecution, danger, and sword are unable to separate us from the love of Jesus. His love and grace are what truly provide for our souls, which die without hope. Hopelessness and depression in this life are some of the worst things imaginable. Jesus continually meets us in this soul level struggle, meeting our deepest needs and insufficiencies today. 

As we walk through life today, let us take hope in the amazing truth that Christ Jesus is sufficient for us. Even and perhaps particularly amidst weakness and difficulty, He is sufficient. Jesus may not take away this world’s troubles (John 16:33) immediately, but He provides unending grace that is sufficient to satisfy our souls’ longing for fulfillment and hope.   

Jesus is enough to cover every need.

His goodness is vast enough to cover all that our own human goodness cannot. He is sufficient to cover every longing. He is sufficient to give us hope.

Christ is sufficient. 

By His sufficient grace, may Jesus change our hearts, strengthening us to step into life, freedom, and hope right where we are today.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“…If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?” (Romans 8:31b-34a).

“…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, not angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). 

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to the blog, as it really helps me continue writing about Life with the King. Grace and peace to you.

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Justice, Jesus, and the Human Heart

The shockwaves of the nation have hit my heart deeply. They have exposed the lurking darkness within each one of us. The ugliness has made clear that we’re not where we need to be. We’re not treating every human equally. We’re not loving our neighbors as ourselves.

2020 seems to have brought the perfect storm of tragedy, and I’m still reeling. I’m still processing. But I hope to start in this post to express the grief I’m feeling for and with my brothers and sisters, and to point to the hope Jesus provides us, even still. I willingly join with Christ, my brothers, and my sisters, in the suffering that comes with standing for both justice and mercy. It seems to me to be the only way to leave the darkness behind for good. 

“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). 

This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with people. Where there are people suffering, God is there. As God’s people we need to be there too. We will know and feel what His heart feels as His Spirit dwells within us. Walking with Jesus means walking not only outside of the affairs of the world, but also straight into the affairs of the heart. There is no place more earthly than the heart, and God is now allowing this battleground, where evil has long prevailed, to be stormed. While it is not our job to change others’ hearts, for only God can do that, it is our job to speak truth in love. Speaking truth in love is just, loving, and humble. 

“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). 

After hundreds of years of His people in slavery, God called Moses to lead them out of their oppressive conditions and treatment in Egypt. I believe God is calling our country and the world to face the oppression inflicted upon one another, whether that’s physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, economically, opportunistically, or otherwise. All of it needs to be reexamined; all of it needs to be changed for the better. And we can do better because Jesus made a way for hearts to be changed, purified by His blood, and set on the good of all.

Jesus is the Way to love our neighbors as ourselves.

God said to Cain of the sin in his heart, “you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). 2000 years have passed since Jesus made a way to be set free from that sin. If we are free of it, why is it still lingering? Sin forms habits too. But habits can be broken. In fact, studies have shown that it takes only about 21 days to break most habits. The events of these past weeks have been a challenge to individually break the habit of seeing others as less than ourselves. 

We must make a new habit, that of loving others as ourselves. It is one of the two highest commands of God (Matthew 22:39). And He has made a Way for us to rule over our human tendency for sin and to love instead. He has made it possible, we must intentionally break the ingrained habit and make it our reality. This true reality of loving our neighbors as we walk in the Kingdom of God is where we can live and be fully alive.  

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).  

It is not a time to be afraid, the life lived for and in the Kingdom is better than any other life we may be used to or comfortable with. In the Kingdom of God, we are no longer bound to the life for a life system of justice. We see this with Israel, the firstborn of God, being spared in exchange for the death of the firstborn of Egypt. Jesus ended that cycle when He became the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. 

Deaths and animal sacrifice no longer need to occur to atone for our sin, because Jesus, the sinless One, broke our cycle of brokenness. Jesus brought a Way to the entire earth that rescues our sinful, arrogant, prideful, prejudiced souls from the darkness, and brings them to the light in Him. By His power, and only by His power, we can overcome sin and death. 

“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:26-28). 

Right before the 10th and final plague God brought upon Egypt, He reassured Moses: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt’” (Exodus 11:9). My prayer is that all of these horrors, all of this pain and suffering, all of the oppression and bondage in sin and darkness would powerfully bring to light the wonder of God to us in our land. As God’s sovereignty and wonder was made apparent in Egypt, may it be made apparent and bring Him all the glory in our world today. May we take comfort and joy in the fact that God multiplies His wonders out of the most dire situations. 

Friends, let’s keep our eyes on the light of the Lord’s promises, even in the midst of deepest darkness. 

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). 

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with each other in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3). 

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). 

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