Who do we appreciate?
In this post-Christmas period, we are still trying to work out what Jesus is about. What his coming into the world means.
Isaiah reminds us that the Lord’s servant is coming to bring justice.
Here is God’s servant, the one he has chosen, the one with whom he is pleased – and the promise – he will bring justice to the nations.
I thought I’d look up justice , just to make sure I’d grasped its full meaning. Dictionary.com tells me that it means “to act or treat fairly”. To be just, is to be guided by truth, reason and fairness. So it’s about doing the right thing, making sure that things are fair. But it goes on to add another definition to justice that grabbed my attention
“to appreciate people properly”
If we appreciate people properly, we can do no other than seek the best for them, long for fairness for them – and we’re going to want others to do that too. If we appreciate that each life is precious, we have to find justice and fairness for them.
“I alone am the Lord your God” is the declaration at the end of the Isaiah passage – and perhaps this is the key to justice – when the Lord alone is our God – not our bank account, our house, our looks or any other thing that we might treasure. When we look to God’s ways, not things that seem important; when God alone is the centre of our lives, the reason for our actions, the purpose to life, the lens through which we see others – then we will seek justice. Because that is his way, his desire for all people.
Is God alone our God? Do we appreciate people? Do we look to the ways that Jesus came to show us? Do we seek to bring justice and peace, in our lives, in our community, in the world?
Come Lord, we pray
Bring justice and peace
In our lives
And through that
May we seek to bring justice and peace
to your world
That the gates of your Kingdom
May be flung wide open
And your ways will rule throughout the world
Pam's Perambulation 
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