There is something about those who seek peace that makes them very uneasy with injustice.
Anything that brings injustice upsets any shalom or wholeness that looks to take place. It’s not so much a theory about the need for balance in the universe. It is more about the cry for harmony, and where there is no justice or where it has been obstructed and compromised it affects not just those involved, but has repercussions that can affect people far away.
It’s not immediately obvious how people making trainers in slave conditions in a destitute part of earth affects me. It’s not immediately obvious how child traffickers in some other corner of the globe affects me. It’s not immediately obvious how dwellers on their own land being turfed out for property developers in some unknown part of the world affects me.
But it does.
It does because it’s another part of God’s creation that is not in sync. It’s another part of the plan that has been distorted and disfigured by the reaches of sin and it is not right. It goes against shalom. Just as God’s work of redemption is global, so it has repercussions on what He demands of those who follow Him with regard to justice.
I can no longer afford to just sit back in my settee tut-tut-tut at all the horrors going on and turn a blind eye. I certainly cannot do something about everything. I can do something about something. From signing a petition, to supporting a fund-raising event, to being involved in a missions abroad project, to investing in living in and among those who suffer to see righteousness done.
It’s not just about what I do on my own. I’m a part of His family. I have brothers and sisters around the world who can and do make a difference in their communities every day. They run orphanages, schools, hospitals, surgeries and other social welfare outlets. They are professional lawyers who work for free to support those who need help in resolving matters and don’t have the legal expertise. They are brave men and women in war-torn areas of the glob giving food, clothes and medical supplies to those in need.
It’s not just about what goes on in different countries. On my own doorstep there are ministries looking to give a fair chance for those coming out of prison to be welcomed and supported back into the community as valued contributors to society rather than the stigma of the ex-con. There are those who are on the streets offering pastoral care to prostitutes and whilst not condoning their profession, they see the need for those on the street to be seen as human beings of value and significance. There are those keen to eradicate the negative and unhelpful labels and stigmas attached to those fleeing persecution and hardship and looking for refuge on these shores. There are those who support the disregarded long-term unemployed who have been stereotyped and just require hope and faith to go beyond their cycle of despair and work towards making a life for themselves.
Wherever injustice is found, those who seek justice are there to be a voice for the voiceless and a helping hand from a loving heart to meet the need they see. Wherever the wronged have not been catered for, whenever the wrong person has been found guilty and the real culprits let loose,those who care don’t seek revenge, they look for justice. When financial priorities appear to outweigh the personal, social and emotional concerns of citizens those who seek what is right live up to their prophetic responsibility and cry out for justice.
That call is based on the good news of the King and His Kingdom that is and will usher in a rule of justice for all.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 
The need for justice or to establish peace is an interesting working within many of us. It seems that we often see this as something of the external, something that is not also within us. We seek peace in an outward circumstance, and this often creates a lack of peace within ourselves. Can an individual know complete peace within themselves? Well, that would depend indeed upon how we view our “self” but, I think that freedom is also something crucial to establishing peace and true justice in our world. We see what we deem to be unjust, and wish to work or do something to see justice replace it. And that is where freedom ceases to be. That is where we stop being justice, being peace within ourselves and seek to impound our idea of what ought to be onto what is. So, in my thinking, we must live free and just within ourselves and allow that to spread without demanding or controlling that it do so. We must let go of looking at “fixing” the external and let what is internal flow naturally, as it does anyways whether we want it to or not.