Justice and Compassion, Hand in Hand.

The Lord longs to be gracious to you;
     therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
     Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18)

Compassion and Justice, hand in hand. It is who our God is. Not one or the other, but both together. "Grace and Truth" is how one of his closest friends described him when he came to live with us--Word made flesh, the One and Only come from the Father (John 1:14). 

We are living in difficult times. But they are also exciting times. No, I don't expect to see the Kingdom of heaven in its fulness, coming in the next few months, certainly not by political efforts. But I do hope to see Christians standing for compassion, Christians speaking out for justice, Christians living out grace and truth in an age when it is so much easier to sling mud on the Internet.

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​If you haven't seen the movie Just Mercy, streaming free from most providers this month, by all means do. Powerful, moving and informative. Better yet, read the book. Here is how I reviewed it in 2016--at another time when people were resorting to a lot of mud slinging on the Internet.

Grace and Truth. Justice and Compassion. It is who our God is.

​Lord, I have heard of your fame;   
     I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
     in our time make them known;
     in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2))