Love Cannot Stand Injustice

Another year has come and gone, and here I stand on the cusp of yet another one. Father, continue to use me and help me remain strong in You. May I be Your mouthpiece to those who would hear. Amen.

1 Corinthians 13:6 (<<click here to read the passage)

[Love] does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. AMP

In Matthew 5, Jesus speaks of a greater broadness of the Law. We have this nasty habit of being sticklers for the point of the Law and “conveniently” avoiding the rest. “If it doesn’t say I can’t do it, then I’m gonna do it!”

Jesus emphasized that the core of the Law Jesus is love – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18). And in Matthew 5 He fleshed out what the Law meant by murder and adultery (Matthew 5:21-22, 28-29) – hate equals murder, lust equals adultery. That’s pretty much in our faces, but we cannot escape His words and limit love to just those two points.

Today’s passage speaks of not rejoicing at injustice but rejoicing with the truth. And I would say that it is far broader than we believe.

Looking up injustice, the Lord brought to mind a quote about doing nothing in the face of injustice being just as bad as taking part in the injustice itself. In searching for that, I found an article on Medium.com entitled 15 Inspirational Quotes About Speaking Up Against Injustice. The Scripture I have shared and the sage words of these individuals can speak for themselves.

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ~ Dr Martin Luther King Jr

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” ~ Elie Wiesel

“You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” ~ Howard Zinn

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” ~ Dr Martin Luther King Jr

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” ~ Haile Selassie

Go and do what Jesus would do.

Dec 28^th, 2023, Thurs, 4:04 pm