Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 11 – Tools of Justice

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

There is a great Christian tradition that is often carried out this time of year in the lead up to Easter. That tradition involves three practices – prayer, fasting and giving. Each of those three things has a justice element where justice is about God’s desire for restoration and reconciliation – to make things right.

Prayer is about justice and restoration toward and in union with God.

Fasting is about justice and restoration toward and within ourselves.

Giving is about justice and restoration toward and in union with our neighbour; our fellow human beings.

These three things open our lives to God to allow him to use us to redeem the world.
It’s easy to slip into pursuing these things as a way of pleasing God rather than pursuing them as an act of gratitude and way of participating in the big story he has already invited us to be part of.

God wants to make the world right and the final chapters of Revelation offer us a picture of what that will ultimately look like when he restores all things.

We exist between two points – the resurrection, where we were given a glimpse, through Jesus, of the new world and the fulfillment of the promises of the new heavens and the new earth.

In the meantime he has invited us to participate in the story between those points, to pursue freedom for all of his creation from the clutches of human corruption. God wants us to act and those three tools enable us to participate in God’s redemptive story – pray, fast and give.

As we act on those three tools in the lead up to Easter, let’s do so not simply as a means to feel good about our Christianity, but as a way to change the world – to love God and to love others. Pray, fast and give.

Pray

Jesus, as we reflect on Easter, the sacrifice you made and the hope you gave in the resurrection, help us to participate in your story of restoration and renewal and as we pursue the acts of prayer, fasting and giving, multiply those activities for your purposes.

Amen