Making Things Right

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Luke 6:37

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

Here’s a confusing thing about Christianity: you’re not supposed to judge, but you’re supposed to do justice. For some people, that might seem contradictory. It can definitely be confusing.

One way to think about justice is to think about a courtroom. In a courtroom, justice is served by a judge, and the judge’s role is to judge someone on the basis of the evidence put before him. In that situation, justice is founded on judgment. They’re almost the same thing.

But the courtroom scenario is only one way to think about justice. Outside a courtroom, judgment might not lead to justice. When I judge someone, I don’t make things right. I don’t make a situation right, and I definitely do not make a person right, not by judging them. For example, I might see someone in a bar having a beer, and make a judgment call that he’s a drunk. I’ve just told him who he is. But what if he’s not a drunk? What if the guy is just having one beer? Judgment calls can get it wrong. I might make a judgment call based on how someone is dressed. I’ll say, “Based on the way you dress, this is who you are.” But I could be wrong. That may not be who they are. So I think we have to be careful about judgment calls. We may not know the facts, and we may not be qualified to make the call.

In fact, the Bible tells us not to judge. But that’s where it gets confusing, because the Bible also tells us to do justice. If we’re not supposed to judge, then how are we supposed to do justice?

There’s another way to think about justice, one that works independently of judgment. Justice is when something is made right. Justice is looking at something that is wrong, and saying, “That’s wrong. I need to make it right.” That’s representing Jesus.

The Bible says that justice and righteousness surround the throne of God. Righteousness is living right. God lives right. God is full of truth. God is full of righteousness.

And He’s also full of justice. He’s full of righteousness, so when He sees something wrong, He wants to go and make it right. He wants to do justice.

I see us doing justice when we fight human trafficking. Human trafficking is wrong. It’s wrong by moral standards. We stand up to human trafficking as believers and we promise to stand in the gap. We’re supposed to be like Christ, so when we see something as unjust as human trafficking, then we need to make it right.

Jesus did justice on the cross. He made things right. That’s what I’ll talk about next time. See you Monday.