For love and justice to be real, they must be lived.

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(As part of this reflection, listen to my song “I Want to Follow You” and consider purchasing it on Amazon Music to support my ministry. Thank you!)

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2 Timothy 3:12

In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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St. Paul knew the inner freedom gained through following the ways of Christ.

It freed him from being an agent of oppression and turned him into an agent of mercy.

It also got him beaten, stoned, jailed, and finally executed.

Following Jesus is dangerous.

Jesus is all about reaching out and helping those in need.

But it’s not just about helping but actually joining those people who have been rejected and marginalized.

He identifies with them and tells the oppressors that “whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me” (Matthew 25).

Jesus also took action when necessary such as overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple in Jerusalem.

They were selling doves to people to offer for sacrifice in the temple in order to receive God’s forgiveness.

This infuriated Jesus since God’s forgiveness is not a commodity to be purchased but is entirely free!

This was likely the incident that resulted in the powers that be to finally arrest him and kill him.

Christians, as followers of Jesus, are supposed to be doing what he did.

We are supposed to be going to where the oppressed are and joining them.

We’re supposed to be taking action on their behalf.

We are supposed to be working to change systemic injustice such as racism.

We are supposed to be speaking truth to power.

We are not supposed to be joining the powerful to crush the oppressed.

We are not supposed to be sitting back in our comfort zones and simply offering those in need “thoughts and prayers.”

If you are a Christian, it requires standing with the oppressed and facing persecution from those in power.

Each of us needs to ask ourselves how we’re doing with that.

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Listen to the song of the day “I Want to Follow You” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Please consider streaming and purchasing my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Remember: God loves you!