Written by Ben Chong, a contemporary Christian leadership coach.
I came to faith as a justice warrior. And I probably loved justice far more than I loved Jesus. I wanted all of those great parts of the kingdom, but I wasn’t really sure if I was okay with the king. I poured so much of my life out in the name of peace and justice, unity and compassion. But I was also seeming to grow in anger and despair and frustration and cynicism and bitterness; I was still dividing people into kind or cruel, or good or bad, or right or wrong. I was still drawing lines and labelling people based on my perception of their political, theological beliefs, economic status, whatever. There was this real self-righteousness; I was deciding I could play God’s role, the Judge. A mentor of mine once reflected on their own journey through this stuff. He said, ‘I realized that I could never truly be part of God’s restoration of all things if the primary way I’m operating is to tear things and people down.’ I think that’s a real challenge as we pursue restoration. Because without the hope of Jesus, we can get so fixated on what’s wrong, on all of creation groaning.And then it’s also really easy to attribute those wrongs to specific people, to blame and label, and we can forget that our own restoration too needs to be part of the restoration of all things. We’re called to love incarnationally, to embody love…If Christians have planted themselves so deeply in Christ, that the fruit that they bear is joy amidst lament – they can do both! – and hope amidst despair.They can forgive amidst hurt and they can have peace amidst fear and embody love amidst hate. How beautiful!
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. [John 1:14 The Message]
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