To do what is right and just
Is more desired by the Lord than sacrifice.Proverbs 21:3
I am often amazed at the Christian capacity to make life dull. Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do the other thing. We at times walk around with long faces, get offended easily, and complain about political correctness. For the sake of “witness” we make unnecessary dualisms of the “church” and the “world,” the “sacred” and the “profane.” All of this makes many of feel proud that we are sacrificing for the faith . . .
The writer of Proverbs provides us with a helpful corrective. Doing right, and doing justice are more important than sacrifice. Love of God and love of neighbor become the primary ethic for those who claim to follow the Lord. Not doing is ok, at times we must fast, lament, grieve. But in most of our lives it is the doing that makes all the difference.
Doing justice, doing right is difficult work. We can easily find ourselves on the wrong side of the majority. Fighting battles that we could easily ignore, speaking of God’s call to a people that will not be persuaded.
May those of us who follow Christ be the leaders in doing right and doing justice. May we do it with joy, fun, and optimism. May we keep that joy when the work of justice gets difficult, and when doing the right thing marks us as part of the problem.