JUSTICE

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:8

The horrific public killing of George Floyd has brought about outrage and much needed calls for justice. My hope and prayer is that his killer and accomplices are punished for their crimes. Our God is a God of justice. As His children, we have been ordained by God to speak and stand against injustice of every kind. We should not just tweet, repost, and share, but we must also listen, pray, write, march, vote, give, donate, love, volunteer, hold accountable...

Being about justice isn't a one time event. It is a lifestyle. We don't get to pick and choose which injustices matter. They all matter to God. We also don't get to solve one injustice with another. Unjust acts in the name of justice are still unjust. Right after God tells us to "act justly/do justice/love justice", he asks us to love mercy. We must remember that each sin we have and will ever commit is against a Holy and Righteous God. When He offered His Son as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, He offered us MERCY. I am so grateful for His mercy every day, because I know what I deserve and never get. We must also offer mercy in the manner and measure we have received.

The only way we can administer Justice tempered with Mercy is to "walk humbly with God." Our gut reaction, apart from God, is to offer swift street justice. We want people to pay and we want them to suffer just as much. If we're honest, we want them to suffer even more than their victims. We want them to burn in hell. The more we walk with God, the more we are willing to extend mercy and grace while also holding them accountable for their actions. 

May the LORD bless you and keep you!
Senior Captain Bobby Delgado
HFD Chaplain

Flipped It

"...and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons." 

-Mark 11:15 

If you've ever played a no holds barred game of monopoly(the only way to play), it may have ended like the picture above. Did you think this was a game? Anger at a game, in hindsight, is pretty silly. Jesus did something like this this in much more dramatic fashion.

He had just entered Jerusalem to much fan fare on what we call Palm Sunday. Many of the people in Jerusalem declared him King. His first act as King wasn't to overthrow the Roman government but to overthrow their religion. He flipped it upside down.

Their sacrificial religious system required people to buy animals to be sacrificed on their behalf. The sellers were over charging and making a profit in God's house! Not only that, but they were doing so in the Court of Gentiles, the only place where non Jews were allowed to worship. As he flipped those tables in righteous rage, He reminded them of the scriptures saying my house will be a house of prayer for all people (Isaiah 56:7), but you have made it a den of robbers(Jeremiah 7:11). I picture Him waving his index finger in the air like Dikembe Mutumbo and saying, "Not in my house!"

God's house is a place where EVERYONE is welcome: all ages, races, economic statuses, and sin backgrounds. It is a hospital for sinners, not a country club for saints. It is not a business or a place to make a profit. Its leaders don't need or "deserve" million dollar mansions, personal jets, fancy clothes, book deals, or any other luxury. The church should stand against injustice and seek to care for orphans, widows, the marginalized, and the "least of these." And the church should be devoted to teaching ALL of scripture holding its leaders accountable for their own sins and crimes. May our churches be led by Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Scriptures. 

-Senior Captain Bobby Delgado

HFD Chaplain