Post from July 1, 2023

“👟 RSD 1159 ✅ Today’s Verse: “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.’” — Leviticus 19:15

I’m also including verse 16 to help us get the whole picture. “‘Do not go around spreading lies among your people. Do not do anything that puts your neighbor’s life in danger. I am the Lord.’”

Have you seen the movie “Mean Girls?” Basically, a girl (Cady) moves to public school in America from homeschooling overseas. She is befriended by a couple of kids, and, in the course of getting to know them, she learns that the popular group of girls is exceptionally mean to her new friend, Janice, and often to others as well. The popular group, for whatever reason, takes a liking to Cady and invites her into the clique. Her original friends think it’ll be beneficial to infiltrate the clique. As the movie progresses, Cady finds that many of the traits she criticized about the popular clique she begins to adopt herself, including not treating others as she should. By the end of the movie, Cady apologizes to her classmates and encourages others to be more accepting of each other and gracious of others’ attempts to improve in character, noting that each social group had their own problems. Everybody is responsible for their own actions and responses. And, in keeping that in mind, her classmates wanted to make more of an effort with each other and for each other.

Today’s verse talks about how to treat others because God realizes that can be complicated for us. So, the extra quotations you see in the verse are because this was the business end of a conversation. Who’s in business? God and Moses. See this was after the Exodus from Egypt (remember the parting of the Red Sea?), and the newly-freed Israelites were (quite literally) wandering the desert. Since their lives had changed a lot, God was lining out for them how to live their best lives, how to take care of themselves and each other. This is what God was telling Moses in today’s verse.

The Amplified Bible version begins, “‘You shall not do injustice in judgment.’” From Google/Oxford, justice is “just behavior or treatment,” with just being, “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.” The New International Reader’s Version has these words in their translation and begins, “‘Do not make something wrong appear to be right.’” E.g. something doesn’t magically become “right” just because you or somebody you like did it. Your first question is probably, “Who’s to decide what’s ‘morally right and fair’?” Well, remember God who knows all and sees all, wants good for all (the omni list I post periodically)? Since He’s the only One with all of the information, only He can truly make those calls. So, why give us the advice? In living alongside each other, we have to make everyday judgments on how to act, how to process, and how to respond. As far as the “judge your neighbor fairly” part: everybody acts and reacts. If someone has wronged someone, it doesn’t matter if they have some perceived social importance. Doing things against someone is wrong. When you were in middle school, if a group of popular kids were making fun of someone, the action isn’t any less severe just because this group of kids is well-known. Similarly, if a kid who isn’t part of the popular crowd is making fun of someone, it isn’t any less bad because maybe he or she is insecure about not being popular. The action is the same. The judgment comes in when you decide to take up for the student being ridiculed, even if the perpetrators are kids who you are friends with or who you’d like to be friends with. Just by your example of how this person should be treated, you’ve done a lot to help them out. It’s a simple example, but it’s one we can all relate to.

We’re not in middle school anymore, but we’re still confronted with this situation (only different packaging). Maybe you see people being rude to homeless people or waitstaff. Maybe you know someone is being intentionally left out at social or work events. Maybe there’s a small-town rumor going around and you know there’s more to the story. Here’s the bottom line: if you’re not helping, then you’re not helping. And, the beauty of it is this: in these person to person situations, you don’t have to cause some social-media-worthy scene. On the contrary, actually. Sow justice in the ground you step on by the example of your actions. Show kindness to the strangers in service occupations, telling them (in front of others) that they are valued and appreciated and deserve to be treated as such. Include the friend or coworker being left out—YOU include them. If them being left out bothers you, there’s a reason it does, and speaking to them in private about “Oh sorry they’re rude to you” doesn’t really do anything to help them. If there’s a rumor, correct it, if you can. If you can’t, introduce the idea that they might not have all of the information, ergo premature conclusions are only hurtful. There might be another version of the story. Take up for people. Matthew 7:12 reminds us to “in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” So, an easy litmus test as to how we should handle difficult people to people situations is this: ask yourself what you would hope a friend would do for you in the same scenario.

Now, what if someone does something to you? This one is hard. Ask the same question. “What would I hope someone would do for me in the same situation?” No lie: some people just like hurting others. Period. Some people just do. But, that’s not most people—most people just mess up. They get too into themselves somehow, and we all do it. Remember the advice from trolls from “Frozen”, “People make bad choices when they’re mad or scared or stressed;” the trolls missed some—add hopeless, tired (and, I mean tired in the soul), and wounded to that list (don’t blame the trolls: those last three don’t rhyme with anything, which presents difficulty in including them in spontaneous musical numbers). If you mess up, how do you want other people to handle that? “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” —Matthew 5:7. Cut people a break. Yeah, sometimes that’s just hard. It takes a lot of courage and love to show grace, to forgive (especially when no apology was offered). How do you do it? Well, if you’re trying your best to be loving, God will help lead you along. Added bonus from the trolls: “love’s a force that’s powerful and strange.” Powerful in that it’s given from God, and it makes things possible and bearable. Love puts an indescribable beauty in the world (and I don’t just mean flowers and mountains)—the ineffable kind that we enjoy most. Strange in that we humans still have no idea how it really works: we just lean into it. It’s ok, I doubt the trolls from “Frozen” really know either. Like us, they just know how it looks when people try their best for each other. And, we’re all really just trying our best. In the times you realize that maybe you haven’t been trying to love like you should, try God. Don’t worry: God knows exactly what love is, and He finds new ways every day to show us and to help us show each other.

Today’s photo is a sticker on the ground by our table at The Wheelhouse.”