Justice is not God’s program. Justice is His character

Reflection from India (Micah Challenge)
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
- Isaiah 30.18
In India, justice is not a natural expectation of godliness, holiness is. Holy men and women of God are those who have withdrawn from the world to attain a peaceful state of existence in the presence of God alone! This attitude seems not uncommon, even among Christians. It amuses me that I am introduced as ‘a Man of God’ when invited to teach the Word, and as a Development Thinker or Worker’ when involved in justice issues. Such a dichotomy is definitely not Biblical. The God of the Bible is known as the God of justice (Isaiah 30:18). The Bible says, ‘But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness’ (Isaiah 5:16). God reveals His holiness in his commitment to justice and righteousness. We are good at running programs. But justice is not God’s program. Justice is His character. When justice is only a program, we can choose either to do it or not. But if justice is our character we will have no choice. It will be demonstrated in our life, in our actions and our priorities.
C.B Samuel, Oxford Centre for Leadership Studies