Justice, Mercy, Compassion

Zech 7:9,10 "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.'"

 

Justice, mercy, compassion, the widow, the fatherless, the alien, the poor…these things seem to be on the heart of God. Just look throughout scripture: "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Mic. 6:8 Or: "For I desire mercy not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hos. 6:6 Or: "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice' you would not have condemned the guiltless." Matt. 12:7 Or: "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" James 1:27 Or: "And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien - Because they do not fear Me," Says the LORD of hosts."
Mal. 3:5 God places those who oppress the widow and fatherless and aliens in the same category as sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers. Pretty serious stuff. Why? Because how we treat others, how we treat those who are not the "beautiful" of the world, or the "accepted" or the "rich", or the "powerful" is a reflection on whether we respect and fear God.

 

It's easy to treat those who are pretty or in places of authority or who have money, well. In fact, we, as humans, have a tendency to crave the attention of people like this. We want to run with people like this. We usually don't want to be associated with those who are poor, or dirty, or smell, or who are needy. But God is all about this. Just look at what he did. We were at one time without Christ. We were aliens. We were strangers. We were without hope. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Eph 2:13 Jesus died to bring us poor, helpless, hopeless aliens into a relationship with God the Father. So to oppress others, to turn them away, to exploit others is totally against who God is. But when we show justice, mercy, compassion, and we help our brother and the widow and the fatherless and the alien and the poor, we are exhibiting the character of God in its truest form.

 

This hits home for me because of the work that I do as an attorney. I know that sometimes I get tired. I get tired of the needy, and those who are helpless. I need to remember that when I treat them well that I am exhibiting Christ. So do justice, show mercy and compassion all the time…even when it seems to get hard. I need to be Jesus in flesh to others.