WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD ... injustice

Have you ever considered what protesters or activists groups do? These groups usually are demanding some kind of freedom or justice and they want it NOW! Usually such protests come from some kind of frustration with the way the world is working.

Justice usually does not come instantly or NOW like most protesters demand. If I recall correctly, Nelson Mandela began his struggle in the 50's but yet it was not until the 1990's that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. In the long journey of fighting for freedom, Mandela found himself imprisoned for his fight. And still today, we see injustices still being fought for many causes such as women rights, racial issues and the rich vs the poor.

The author of Ecclesiastes could very well sum up the injustices and the frustrations that we experience in our world today:

(4:1) "I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them."

Oppression.

Frustration.

Discouragement.

In last weeks YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question, "What are you most likely to get discouraged about today?" The top 3 answers were:

1. 35% of those voting said that family finances were sure to get them discouraged today.

2. 21% of the polled readers said that they were not discouraged today.

3. While 14% said that they are either discouraged in family life, the state of the world or the lack of morality in the world.

We all experience discouragement from time to time, but never before have I experienced such discouragement in our country as we are experiencing right now. I can't tell you how many times I have heard a young person say "But that's not fair!", life sometimes isn't fair and right now I am hearing alot of adults saying this very thing..."It's not fair!!"

When life throws us a curve, whether it is in our control or the control of someone else like our government ...we can either throw our hands up and say "How unfair!!" or we can decide to allow God to bring justice to the situation.

What kind of attitude do we put on when life is unfair to us?

Despair? It is so easy to let reality get us down and sometimes we just want to give up on life. I think the author of Ecclesiastes may have fallen into this category. What is unfortunate about choosing despair is that we lose out on so much of what life COULD be, all because we are too upset to see past our despair.

Cynicism? When our attitude becomes cynical, we simply go with the flow of life. Our life motto is "do unto others before they do unto me." This kind of attitude only isolates us from people, which really just makes our world even more unjust.

Realistic hope? An attitude of being realistic and having hope means that we realize that this world we live in will never be completely just, but by being part of this world and having the hope of Jesus Christ, we have the ability to bring love, joy, peace, trust, hope and some justice back into our world.

How do you react to the discouragement and injustices around you? It is my prayer that you will join me as I reflect on all that Christ has already done, not only in my personal life, but in the world all around me. His Word says that He will not leave us nor forsake us, so that means that just as He did not leave Noah alone or Moses or Abraham - He surely will not leave us alone in this unfair world that we live in. He is coming again and when He does, all injustices will be taken care of. The future is in the palm of His hand.

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD is a weekly post where I reflect my thoughts on a personal book of study. This week, I studied the hope that He has promised that He is coming again and we have not yet seen all of the results of His work. It is my prayer that in your discouragements and injustices, that you will remember that there is coming a day when the record will be open and justice will be served.

YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL: Please take time to vote in this weeks poll...."When you make an entrance at a party or dinner...what are you most likely to do?" Remember your opinion really does matter!!