Throughout its history, the ability of the church to practice justice has determined whether the values of God advance or decline. When Christians are practicing justice, they show that God is loving and powerful to work against some of the strongest forces of hate in the world. When the church is weak, complacent or engaging in injustice, God is made to look more like a personal crutch for the weak and the immoral. And who can blame the world for this perception? The church is suspect when some preachers tell us to expect new living room furniture from God but say nothing about God caring or doing anything about little children starving or being shot to death in various parts of the world. If the church is to regain a powerful hearing, then it must hear the cry of justice from the Scriptures.

Have you ever thought about how the Bible was written by people who were experiencing oppression? It might seem obvious, but is also something we can easily miss. The good news is that the Bible is also the story of the physical and spiritual salvation from that oppression.

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