We live in a broken world. Ever since Adam and Eve the world has been something it shouldn’t be. There is hurt, there is death, there is injustice everywhere we turn. Now, more than ever before, we can keep up with the latest injustices. We get a notification when another child goes missing somewhere in America. We see red X’s everywhere once a year to remind us that slavery still exists, and if a terrorist attack hap-pens in Paris, we would know all the details as soon as we open our first social media app of the day.
In a world so connected, injustices no longer have a dark corner to hide in.
Injustices can be exposed world wide in a matter of moments, and often times are. Is adding that banner to your profile picture, sending that tweet, or posting that inspiring video about broken families at the border really going to make a difference in the world though? Or is it possible that we can make justice what it is truly meant to be? More than a hashtag.
The age of social media has the potential to allow society to enact justice worldwide. We’ve seen how a social media campaign about #familiesbelongtogether can spark nation wide debate and make real change in our policies and how we treat families crossing the border. Often times, however, the age of social media simply gives us an out. It gives us a way to interact with the in-justices of the world, without actually doing anything. We say things like, “I used that red sharpie today to draw the X like everyone else” or “I changed my profile picture so people know that I care.” The saddest part though, is that for many of us, that is where our justice work ends. That’s where it’s time for somebody else to pick up the mantle and save the day.
Scripture does not teach this though. Scripture does not say that you are God’s handiwork, crafted in Christ Jesus, to let others do good works, which God prepared in advance for others to do. No Ephesians 2:10 says, “for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
To do. Not to let others do.
When Jesus had a hungry crowd following him after a long day of healing and performing signs to the masses, what did he do? He didn’t send somebody else to go feed them, he didn’t acknowl-edge their hunger and then do nothing about it. He fed them. He did something about the prob-lem at hand. Over and over in scripture Jesus is confronted with a problem, and his response is always the same, he does something about it. We are called to do the same. Jesus speaks to Phillip about this in John 14:12, I’d quote it here but, instead, I'll give you a chance to do something.
