Social Justice and the Gospel

I’ve seen some disturbing things since coming here. I walked through a slum that 1 million people live in. I’ve seen families of family of 8 with five adults live a tiny house with one bedroom. I’ve walked through one of Asia’s largest red light district where girls are trafficked and abused as prostitutes. I’ve seen a man covered in horrifying boils, a women with a mutilated hand, and beggars who are missing their feet. I’ve met a young girl who ran away from home because her father was trying to force her to work in a textile factory for 18 hours a day, and a old man who spends every morning drinking until he’s drunk by noon.

It’s disturbing stuff. Injustice, corruption, pain, sorrow and depravity on full display, but the most startling thing about all this, is that these “disturbing things” rarely actually disturb me. They become normal so quickly. I walk past people living in tents and don’t even flinch. I see beggars and my first instinct at times is how to avoid them. I don’t usually think of myself as callous or apathetic, but it’s scary how quickly I become numb to injustice or pain.

Rather than hating the injustice of girls being sold as prostitutes, I just sort of go numb and don’t think about it much. Instead of feeling the pain in poverty, or pondering how to help the beggar, I just shrug my shoulder and assume poverty is part of the world and too big of an issue to fix. Rather than standing up for the laborer who has to work 18 hours a day, I just don’t educate myself on the issue and try to move it out of my mind, lest I grow convicted and feel the need to stop buying the stuff I like to buy. There are so many painful issues in the world that are real. They cause real people real pain and real suffering, and yet I often live indifferent to it all. I move it out of my mind, shrug it off or assume it’s too big an issue for little ole’ me to fight.

And in one sense that might be true. I’m probably not going to fix the problem of poverty, feed all the starving or free all the child prostitutes – but I can live my individual life in a way that glorifies God in light of these realities. I can give the little money I have, I can support organizations that help suffering people, and I can abstain from buying things that feed the injustice. Much of this may only have a small impact – but it’s better then no impact. Sometimes as Christians we don’t face these issues because they’re not “gospel related” and instead are social issues. But as I’ve started reflecting on the sadness and pain of these social issues, and as I think about the real men, women and children that I’ve actually seen suffering – the issues suddenly become very related to the gospel. Loving people is our call, and while that necessitates verbally sharing the truth about Christ’s saving work, it also means loving people who are being ignored or abused. Helping people in suffering is the crux of the gospel as Christ came to help us out of our suffering, so extending that sort of love to people opens the door for the gospel in a genuine and beautiful way.

Everybody’s primary need is salvation through the grace of Jesus Christ, but to assume that is their only need, and that any other need they may have is not important is foolish, wrong and neglectful. We should never neglect sharing the good news of Christ with those suffering, but we also cannot overlook the pain they face daily. We are not to pick between sharing the gospel or loving them by relieving physical suffering, we are to combine both to holistically love people. We should never lose sight of sharing the Gospel, and that most be foundation in our daily lives, but caring for people’s tangible needs is necessary in our lives and a beautiful way to extend the love of Christ to the suffering.

I will be the first to admit I often struggle to care for these people because they are usually so far from my thoughts, but I hope to live my life more thoughtfully in the future, and especially to care for those suffering in my immediate community. One thing that has often kept me from doing anything is the thought that these issues are too big, and too many to fight – so I get overwhelmed and essentially just do nothing. But I think that in regards to this thought my advice to myself would be, “Kyle, just pick something and try. Pray and think about what really breaks your heart, and then give some of your time, money and prayers to help that injustice. Just don’t sit back idly doing nothing – do something.”

If we all got up and did something, I think a lot of good work will be done to help people who suffer. And helping people who suffer is important to God, so it must be important to us.

Matthew 25:34-46

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”