Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Justice is trendy right now.

I’m sure it’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last. It’s biblical. Because it’s God’s way, justice, and the command to live in and with it, isn’t going anywhere. It’s not just a Christian standard. It’s a people standard.

You can often identify what causes your friends are passionate about by their social media feeds. Some match up to the way they live and what they’re willing to personally sacrifice. Some buy a shirt for support and feel they’re doing their part. Others read a book. Some sacrifice their income, home, and comfort to live a different life, so that others can live a different life, too.

Has justice become a substitute for people to experience the goodness and redemption of God…without acknowledging Him and giving Him glory?

Justice requires mercy. In fact, it requires we love mercy, which involves a passion for sacrificially helping. And behind all that justice and loving mercy is humility. It’s not about us. We don’t get to mark something off our “feel good about ourselves and the way we’re serving” when we act justly, because it’s not about us. The moment it becomes about us, it’s no long just.

Justice is about God’s redemption. It’s about making things right…His way. When we seek to act justly and extend mercy, we’re trying to make things right. We see a wrong, and we try to fix it. But when we seek redemption without God, we fall short. He is the source of redemption. We can’t make things right on our own, because our perspective and our power is limited. He wants to use us, of course. He brings us together, open our eyes to injustice, opens our hearts and pours in mercy, and people are redeemed because of it…because of Him. We are redeemed, too. We are changed.

Why is justice important to you? Why does whatever it is that you want to help fix need to be redeemed? Are you willing to be redeemed through the process? Are you humbly inviting God to change you?

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)