My Deconstruction Story, Part 8

 It would be more than a year before God would connect dots between the new definition of poverty that I had learned and my life-long passion for the Gospel and justice. In fact, when I was reading Myers' book on the porch in Kigali, I didn't even understand that what I really cared about was justice. To be completely honest, when I first spoke to Greg Burch, the director of the MAGDJ program, I asked him why justice was included in the major. His answer still strikes me today. He said justice was a focus of study in the MAGDJ program because development isn't sustainable without it! 

Just think about that for a minute... truly "sustainable" development isn't possible without a just society. But what is justice? That is a vitally important question, about a concept that is increasingly controversial, especially within the Evangelical community. 

Yet, justice is, I think, one of the most incredible aspects of the Gospel.

One of the books we read in the MAGDJ program was Generous Justice by Tim Keller. It's not a long book; only 189 pages. It wasn't very far into the book (page 10 in my copy) that a heading lept off the page. It read, "Justice Is Right Relationships." 

Think about that for a minute... 

Justice is right relationships. 

Like I said, those words lept off the page. And reminded me of what I'd read in Walking with the Poor about poverty... poverty was the absence of shalom in all of its meaning (Myers, p. 146) characterized by broken and unjust relationships! 

So, poverty is the absence of shalom in all of its meaning (Myers) and

justice is about right relationships (Keller). 

In that moment, the essence of the Gospel became clear - in a world characterized by brokenness and injustice, the Gospel carved a path to just or restored relationships. 

I'm going to end here. Please thing about what you just read. Think about the definition of poverty, like what poverty actually is, not just how it has been narrowly defined. And think about justice, like what justice actually is, not just how it has been narrowly defined. Then come back and we can continue this journey of deconstruction.