Perverted Justice

14 September 2011

Proverbs 2:9-15 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you; understanding will guard you; delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil; men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

In this world today especially in South Africa, who is rich and who is poor? We have people who make presumptions and estimates about society and then make decisions that are invalid or inappropriate. When racism and class distinctions are made there will always be tension and conflict, and so we find that people who live in affluent areas pay more for less services, in order to subsidise those living in supposedly disadvantage areas. Potholes are the order of the day, fraudulent utility bills based on estimates, non-existent health services, total disregard for road traffic by vitriolic taxi drivers seems to be the norm. A sound judicial system undermined and slurred by unscrupulous politicians and corrupt officials also seems to be rife. No different than it was in the time of St Paul.

Yet what is new, wherever there are human beings there is sin, selfishness and bigotry. No matter where you go it may not be as obvious but these things exist no matter how developed the country it is just better concealed in some. The problem that exists is that there is no respect or love for others, if you can get away with something why not. So the point comes where law abiding people start to give up hope and then break the law because no one actually cares, which happens when we stop focusing on God’s will.

As Christians our duty is to honour the law, pay our taxes and pray for those in authority over us, and to do this as if we were doing this for Jesus Christ Himself.

Be encouraged today to persevere and to continue to pray.

David

Point to ponder: the wicked pervert justice.  

Question to consider: Do you ever get upset with authority over you?