Christians Act When Injustices Occur

All Christians are called to act when we see or experience injustices because that kind of action is an extension of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, part of the Christian experience requires patience amidst suffering. However, we are also victorious because Christ is victorious. In Orthodox Alaska, Michael Oleksa writes, "Christians cannot stand silently by, witnessing the destruction of sisters and brothers... Christians act. In the face of injustice and oppression, it is a betrayal of Christ to remember only His suffering, and to apply this as the only appropriate Christian metaphor, the model for appropriate human response to evil. Too often, when confronted with such situations, the Church has urged silent suffering now, assuring those who humbly bear their present humiliation of some eventual, eternal reward. But Christians are also called to remember the future and to act with the Second Coming, the Kingdom of eternal love, freedom and justice, as the other guidepost, orienting and directing their lives. The Church acts and lives in the tension between what has gone before and what will be, the former being the revelation and foretaste of the latter. The Church and individual believers act as Christians, whenever they bring remembrance of both this sacred past and the future, in Christ, the Christian 'Metaphor,' to bear on a particular situation. It is the creative tension between these two poles that enables a Christian to act, and which makes the action Christian." This is a tough thing for any Christian, but the last thing we should do is sit idly by as people suffer. We can learn and grow through suffering, but we also have the God of the universe on our side. We must act on God's behalf so that He can be glorified through us in situations of brokenness and injustice.