Justice Only Comes Through Jesus

 

Welcome to the Solidarity podcast,

where we share stories to connect with one another, find comfort in life’s challenges & to celebrate the solidarity that is..

being a woman.

My heart has been heavy over injustice and the division over how to go about fighting it. Not even amongst the majority of the world because they don’t know any better. But in Christian communities. The very people who profess the love of God turn around and slander other Christians in passive aggressive memes or if they’re brave enough, directly- for not handling things the way they think things should be handled.

Trust me. There are some ISSUES that get me so heated and I want to go after whoever I can to tell them all about it and why they should be mad and what we can do and I want to get all up in arms about certain things but then I have to take a step back and remind myself of some truths that a lot of Christians seem to forget when it comes time to step up to the social plate.

We end up caught between pleasing the world’s standards and God’s word about how we should handle these situations.

We’re hyper focused on being progressive and making assumptions about how Jesus would’ve handled things to fit an agenda. Ya’ll, that’s gotta stop because nobody knows how Jesus would handle certain situations and who are we to say this is exactly what Jesus would say or do? To me that’s a huge boundary that we are way over stepping when we say those things. We can obviously go based on things He actually did say, but twisting words or situations from the Bible to try to fit into a narrative but still like, drag Jesus into it to make ourselves feel more solid in that belief, is wrong. Read 2 Peter 3 if you don’t believe me.

Rather than encouraging fellow believers to seek the Holy Spirit for wisdom, there are broad statements being made and it’s making the business of following Jesus look very confusing and hypocritical.

So here’s some Bible truth because we need to dive into the Word and get grounded in reality.

And by the way. We won’t be going to church like this every week. But as I’ve stated before, I’m listening to God on what to say and when and as these words poured out of me at 12:57 am like they usually do in the middle of a midnight feeding, I knew this was important stuff. Salvation is the most important thing and we don’t talk about it enough, so we’re going to talk about it today.

Alright here we go.

We focus far too much on our earthly bodies

and not enough on our eternal ones.

We put such an emphasis on what seems like everything else before putting an emphasis on eternity. When our focus is almost solely on the itty bitty slice of our timeline that is our time on earth, we fail to see the greater picture of who we actually are and why we were created in the first place. Who God created us to be is important and it is vital that we value our bodies, our cultures, and the way that He made us in His image. But when that becomes our hyper focus we tap into the divisiveness of our earthly desire to be in control, in the spotlight and “right” and we fail to focus on eternal peace.

One of my favorite bloggers, Instagrammers & podcasters- Blake from the Crappy Christian Co recently said.. and I’m paraphrasing here-

“salvation is more important than anything. Including life.”

Life in itself is a privilege that comes from Jesus and Jesus alone. Without Him there would be no life. I mean

John 14:6 says: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

I mean that’s as straight forward as it gets. And then

Romans 12:2 says:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

God makes it so clear that the world is not where we’re going to find our answers. That it’s going to be through Jesus. And when we put earthly- aka temporary- desires, values & goals above salvation & God’s love for his children through his plan we will find nothing but division, frustration, misunderstanding, hypocrisy, and hatred. Because those things are all from, the evil one, who resides over the earth. that is what he wants because it brings us farther away from God and closer to him. 

So how do we get out of that pattern?

James 4:7

“Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

I encourage you, turn to God’s word.

Ground yourself in His truth. Not the inspirational quotes that the earth tries to convince you are YOUR truths. But rather the unshakeable truth from God Himself.

Turn to prayer and ask for discernment when feelings cloud your judgment and you find yourself getting wrapped up in temporary concepts, disagreements & values that don’t align with the bigger plan and purpose for your life.

Focus in on Jesus. Choose to worship when your anger over an injustice against you occurs. For God says vengeance is His and He is fighting for you. If you truly want to fight the battle down here in the temporary, put on the armor of God and get on your knees and pray for those around you. Intercede for them through prayer & petition. That shows more strength than anything else you could do.

Remember that so many obsess over battles on earth because they have forgotten, or maybe they just don’t know that they are under the stronghold of evil.

Ephesians 6:12 says:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We are fighting a spiritual battle that can only be won through Jesus and can only be fought with prayer, truth, righteousness, salvation & faith. Keep in mind with that concept that people around you who you just cannot understand how they could say or do such vile & evil things, they have the stronghold of evil over them. There is darkness and evil working overtime behind the scenes. So we need to be praying for that bondage to be broken, for the stronghold to be set free and for God’s love to flood into their lives. Nothing is impossible with God.

Friends you can fight for the people around you. You can stand up for them and work towards change. But no one except for God can soften the hearts of broken people and renew them.

You can show people around you God’s love by listening and loving and serving. But salvation MUST be at the center of it or it is no good.

Matthew 22:37-40 literally says:

"And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

If that’s not fighting for people and loving on them, I don’t know what is.

Justice only comes through Jesus.

We can continue to make strides but nothing will ever be fully fixed or figured out in the name of social justice because until Jesus comes back nothing will be truly made new. Justice will not be served until those days.

Loving, serving, listening & praying- that is the work that we can be doing now. And do it. But don’t get wrapped up in the worlds screaming & fighting & hypocrisy & divisiveness in the name of fighting for social justice. That is just a facade. Posting on social media or attending a rally only goes so far and it’s wrong to judge people for not “fighting” & “speaking up” in those ways. Because guess what? God loves His children even more than you do. So turn back to Him and ask for guidance in how you can love on those around you & serve them & allow Him to bring you the opportunities that you’re supposed to step into. Not everyone is called to serve in such forward facing & exposure heavy ways.  And that’s okay.

And when you get ridiculed for not doing things the way that people who are obsessed with the world (and basically getting credit for appearing to “fix” things) are doing them.. turn the other cheek. Continue to serve them. Be armed with the word and speak truth over them. Because Isaiah 54:17 says “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.”

My loves, He is fighting for you.

Again I remind you, that injustices may be done against you and those you love. Pray for wisdom in how to approach situations before you go in with guns a blazing. Remember that this world is not your home, to have Grace, humility & love. To take the plank out of your own eye before you inspect the speck in someone else’s. Turn the other cheek and once again,

Romans 12:19

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.””

I know that this is a touchy, touchy subject and if you felt triggered, I understand, but I encourage you, before you come at me I invite you to pray and inspect your heart. Get with God and ask Him what about this is triggering you and ask Him to reveal why. Ask Him for peace & healing over whatever is holding you in bondage to a certain concept, group or desire.

Let us all approach one another with a little more grace, a little more love and a little bit more understanding.

If you enjoyed today’s episode please share with a friend who needs to hear this. Help me get the word out on social media and if you’re feeling it, subscribe and leave a review to help get it out to others on the algorithm who need to be shown some solidarity! Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next Wednesday for a new episode!

As always, I’m so glad you’re here.

You’re wanted, needed and loved.

I see you, I hear you and you my love, by the grace of God, you’re enough.

xoxo - Ry

 
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My Birth Story // A Letter To The Medical Community