Reflect

“No fair!” How many times have you heard a child say that? Children have an intense desire for justice, but because they are still developing emotionally, their cries of unfairness often mean, “I didn’t get my way.”

Nowadays, it seems, many youth and adults also have trouble distinguishing between justice and getting their own way. Some say it is unjust for somebody else to have a lot of money. Some feel it is just to develop hiring practices based on race or gender rather than ability and qualifications. Some think it is unjust for one nation to have a better economy than another. Some think it is just for a specific group of people to be more at risk for a specific accident, disease, or act of violence.

Maybe C.S. Lewis had Psalm 73 in mind when he wrote, in Mere Christianity, “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

—Andy McClung

Question

1. How often do you complain about how unfair or unjust things are? Do you feel powerless to change things?
2. Do you truly desire justice or do you just pay it lip service? Do you desire justice in all situations or just those that either hurt people you dislike or help people you like?
3.  How often do you work toward justice? How do you do so?
4. What do you think C.S. Lewis meant in the above quote? How does it relate to Psalm 73?

Act

1.  Recall, meditate on, then journal about a time when you, like the psalmist, found refuge in God.
2. Try your hand at poetry, songwriting, or some other creative release. See if you can focus your art on a specific justice issue such as racism, poverty, or sexism.
3. This week, watch for times when you complain about unfairness. When you catch yourself, stop and determine if it really is an injustice, or simply your not getting your way.
4. Without getting sidetracked with evidence and such, discuss your thoughts about recent political, ethical,  or racial issues with another person. How does justice play into your opinions about these events?

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash