Morality, Justice and Righteousness
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
Amos 5:24
But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
God spoke these
words through the prophet Amos when the northern kingdom, Israel, was at the
height of prosperity and at a low spiritually.
Greed and exploitation were the ruling values in the business
world. Worship of pagan gods was the
center of religious life. God refused
the offering that the Israelites brought with unrepentant arrogance to the
temple. He would rather have His people
practice justice and righteous rather than have them involved in meaningless
religious rituals and lives devoid of devotion to their Creator.
We often ask why
is there so little morality, so little justice, so little righteousness in our
world today. Part of the answer lies in
the fact that so little morality, so little justice, so little righteousness are
in the Church. Justice and righteousness
are foundational to a vibrant society.
True justice and righteousness are found only the Lord.
As God spoke to His people in the
days of Amos, so He is speaking to His people, the Church, today. We speak out against the persecution of the
Church. We despair as those in authority
deride Christian values. We stand in
fear as our right to worship is eroding away. We decry the lack of prayer in
the public arena and skip worship services to do our shopping. Empty pews grace our churches. Few Christians attend Bible studies. Prayer meetings have been cancelled because
of lack of attendance. Sunday sports
have become a priority for both children and adults.
We often use church attendance and our
offering as a means of buying position and authority in the congregation. As our lives become more and more devoid of
devotion to our Creator, church becomes more and more a meaningless religious
ritual. We gossip about other church members.
We desire to bend pastors to our will rather than allowing them to
follow the Holy Spirit. Our relationship
with others is a manifestation of our relationship with the Lord.
God is crying out to us, “Come back. Put away injustice and unrighteousness. Be a template of victory in the midst of
adversity. No matter what circumstances
come against you, remember that I have given you justice. No matter how unrighteous the world system
is, I am always righteous and through the blood of Jesus Christ, I have imputed
righteousness to you.
May we cry out of repentant,
submissive hearts, “The world has treated me unjustly, but God has given me His
justice. Therefore, I can let His
justice flow down like water over others. The world has treated me
unrighteously, but God has given me His righteousness. Therefore, I can let His righteousness flow
like a mighty stream over others.”
Read another article on the same topic:
“No!” “A Better Economy Won’t Fix It!” By Mike Pyatt (on page 1 of the website)
http://www.usrpn.org/articles/category/wyoming/
