The Israelites were very religious, but token religious observance is not what God wants. What does he want then? The answer is simple: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” What does it mean to act for justice? Our minds might immediately go to the great cause of reversing world poverty. This is indeed a part of it. It is possible, however, to be zealously engaged with issues of global justice and world poverty and yet fail to enact this call to justice in the immediate circumstances of our lives. And I am not just talking about buying fair trade products and so forth (though that is commendable). In each moment of your life there may be injustice. Learn to find the injustice in the small things, the everyday things, and remedy these. Find your greed and change it to generosity. Notice when you take without giving. Recognise when you withhold love and care from someone who needs it. See when you treat people as tools for your advancement. Acknowledge where you raise yourself up over others and claim greater entitlement to unmerited blessings. Practice justice in the seemingly inconsequential things of life and you will be able to move on to greater things with the right heart. Don’t use social activism as an opiate for your troubled conscience when your life is full of small injustices. Act justly and mercifully in the small things. This is what it means to walk with God.
Identify the small injustices in your life and think about how to remedy them.
Read Micah 6
