Blessed are those who create peace.
Matthew 5:9
Justice, like love, is a multi-faceted jewel. I love how Richard Stearns and Timothy Keller could write two books, on essentially the same topic, which are completely different from one another. While I learn more toward one (prioritizing areas of absolute poverty), one thing I appreciated about Keller’s book was his closing chapter Peace, Beauty, and Justice. I love how he weaves these three together, showing them essentially as multi-facets of one beautiful jewel.
Keller writes,
“God created all things to be in a beautiful, harmonious, interdependent, knitted, webbed relationship to one another. Just as rightly related physical elements form a cosmos or a tapestry, so rightly related human beings form a community. This interwovenness is what the Bible calls shalom, or harmonious peace” (173)
Shalom, the biblical word for peace means “complete restoration, a state of the fullest flourishing in every dimension–physical, emotional, social, and spiritual–because all relationships are right, perfect, and filled with joy.”
This is the sacred mundane. Essentially living the sacred mundane means living a seamless life of shalom, first in our hearts and homes, and then in our cities, country, and world. To jump to generosity without first pursuing shalom is to miss the depth and dimension of truly doing justice. We seek peace in our bodies, in our finances, in our parenting and marriage and relationships. With our friends and neighbors, with our habits and in our hearts. We move outward to seek peace with our communities, all the while giving whatever we can to seek the peace of those overseas.
And here’s the cool thing–there are different ways to seek shalom in different contexts, which means that you can kind of contribute to them all at once.
- I seek shalom in my heart by abiding in the Vine. Confession, prayer, lifestyle repentance, gratitude, grace. It all brings shalom within my heart.
- I seek shalom in my home by speaking words that are kind and life-giving. By honoring and respecting my man. By lovingly and consistently discipling my kids. By teaching my children to be peace-makers with each other.
- I seek shalom in my neighborhood by simply being friendly to the same-sex couple down the street. Giving a warm smile and embrace. Praying for others. Taking fresh bread. Talking in the yard. Smiling.
- I seek shalom in my church by supporting my leaders. Praying for elders, contributing, serving, cultivating kindness and grace.
- I seek shalom in my community (at this stage in my life) by simply being all there in every encounter. A smile and “how are you today?” A choice to linger and not rush. A chat at the park. A casual invite to church.
- I seek shalom in the world by supporting (primarily financially) Africa New Life, World Vision, Compassion, and Next Generation Ministries.
See how fun this is? All of it matters. My smile won’t do anything for a starving child in Africa who cannot see my face. But giving a dollar will. Giving a dollar won’t do anything for a stressed and over-busy mom at the park. But a smile and unhurried chat just might.
Shalom is so beautiful because it’s so multi-faceted. Giving is so fun because there is such a variety of things to give—from a dollar to a smile to a firm but loving swat on the bottom (in the case of our little lambs), we have countless ways each day to promote peace wherever we are. Different situations call for different actions–how fun that our God gives us an endless supply of resources to disburse in His name!
Thanks for journeying with me as we do justice and create peace. How can you, today, create shalom in your sphere–heart, home, and world beyond?
3 thoughts on “Multi-faceted Justice (1): Create Peace”
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Since you referenced my post, thought I would offer a comment… I agree with Keller that the different dimensions of righteousness (compassion, beauty, peace, and justice) are intrinsically linked together. By offering a defense of international giving, my intent is not to pit compassion against justice. Those can both be recipients of giving. My focus on international issues is due to the differences in the degrees of poverty.
Another book that has helped me to see the symbiosis of justice and compassion is Adam Taylor’s “Mobilizing Hope”, which describes social justice as the removal of barriers to opportunity (so others can pursue shalom without the oppression and hindrances of evil’s of society). Removing barriers enables those in poverty to be partners in their development rather than continually degraded as inferior benefactors. Compassion should always look for root causes that can be addressed rather than surface level fixes to give long term support. This parallels the nature of the gift of the cross. His work on the cross wasn’t only forgiveness that left us in a helpless state, but sanctification that actually enabled and empowered us to participate in serving with God.
Regardless of the strategy used to pursue shalom, whether it be political (Sojourners), legal (IJM), clean water (Living Water), microloans (World Vision, Grameen), emergency relief, etc., all require human investment, which requires giving (financial, time). And virtually all of these strategies reflect the multiple facets of pursuit of justice, compassion, and peace.
Anyway, I haven’t read the whole book (Generous Justice), we are taking a leisurely chapter-a-week pace, but looking forward to the rest. My one objection was at the beginning was where Keller seems to suggest that understanding God’s grace will make us compassionate/just. While God’s grace should change us, empirical and biblical evidence certainly don’t guarantee it. Churches are filled with stingy, self-centered people that have a completely sufficient understanding of God’s grace. And the servant from Matthew 18 who didn’t show justice and compassion after being forgiven wasn’t just lacking good teaching on the subject. He fully understood the debt he had been forgiven and still didn’t respond appropriately.
Great, thank you for this! It was my understanding that Keller’s “understanding of grace” that makes us just was being “poor in spirit.” When we TRULY understand grace we will truly understand we are poor in spirit which will translate to a natural identification with the poor. At least that’s how I understood it. Thanks so much for sharing here, Kris.