Justice, Kindness, and Humility

My daughter's fourth grade class recently visited the state capitol. No surprise, they ran into protesters there, some of them touting colorful language on their signs.

The kids returned to school with about an hour left in their day. After a field trip, especially the kind that keeps 9- and 10-year-olds on a bus for a couple hours, this means an extended recess. As it's winter in Colorado, the teachers told the kids they needed to wear their coats outside. This is how my daughter explained to me what happened next: "We didn't want to wear our coats, so we had a protest."

Conceivably, there may be parents who would erupt with pride over this statement. Their child was standing up for her right to make her own choices, making her voice heard, fighting against tyranny. I am not one of those parents. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in respecting authority. When I dug a little deeper, it became clear that this was not an all-out protest by a pack of screaming fourth graders. It was a few little girls whining about having to wear their coats, and the teacher didn't even know about it. Still, Camryn had chosen the words, "have a protest." Because this is the language of the day.

I know that injustice exists in this world. In fact, nowhere do you find more talk about justice than in the Bible. For many years, one of my favorite verses has been Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

I love this verse because justice is linked closely with kindness and humility. God absolutely cares about justice, but He also cares about how we carry it out. There is no humility in a 9-year-old grumbling against a teacher who is looking out for her best interest. There is no kindness in covering posterboards in mean-spirited profanity and parading them around school kids who are trying to learn more about their government.

The Bible's focus is not so much about fighting injustice, but on doing justice. Be fair. Don't cheat or steal. Look out for those who are weaker. Love the widow and the fatherless and the resident alien among you (Jeremiah 22:3).

There are times when we have to cry out on behalf of injustice, when those who follow God carry His truth out into the streets. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a shining example of this. But God's other commands don't go by the wayside in favor of fighting injustice. Kindness, love, and humility still matter. I would argue, in fact, that we need to spend more time training our children and ourselves in those "harder" virtues than in those that come more naturally. My kids came out of the womb knowing how to fight for what they thought was right. Getting angry and speaking up has never been a problem for them, or for just about anyone else I know. It's knowing when to speak up--and how to do it without sinning or causing others to stumble--that requires wisdom and maturity.

The Bible is as clear in its teaching to honor authority (Romans 13:1, 1 Peter 2:13 and 5:5) as it is to follow the way of justice. When these two come into conflict, protesting may be one way to respond. But 4th graders and grown-ups alike need to remember that justice without kindness and humility is nothing more than a clanging cymbal.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 
1 Corinthians 13:1-3