I was exclaiming to one of my closest colleagues, "I am too young for the world!!"
So drama right.
This was said in context of having experienced a lot of brokenness in the lives of the people whom I work with. However, sometimes I do feel this way.
I've encountered cases where lives are obviously broken and there have been lots of injustice. For example, people would rather hurt one another and get angry with one another, at the great expense of their own child. Their child sometimes become a bargaining chip or a means to get back at one another. Yet, I'm not a parent and who am I to judge? But this sense of injustice when a vulnerable party is hurt at the expense of those who suppose to protect him/her makes me angry and upset. But I have to hold my anger and frustration and make sense of these feelings, lest I react without objectivity to the "perpetrators" and perpetuate the pattern of conflict amongst them that will only hurt the vulnerable party even more.
It's been really tough. What does God have to say of brokenness and injustice, and for me, while I'm suppose to work in such a setting?
I suppose firstly, we must accept the fact that we live in a broken world that is plagued with the effects of sin. The effects and impact of sin can be observed more apparently in the lives of the people that I work with. Being human, it's always easier to want to tend towards comfort and convenience and I struggle with the reality that I have to constantly be in the midst of discomfort in the lives of the people. But the truth is, life is not comfortable and will not be convenient all the time, when we live in a fallen world. Work is not always fruitful and sometimes we take 2 steps foward, only to take multiple steps back.
Secondly, and most practically, we need to negotiate justice and mercy. I suppose this is the hardest part to work through. On one hand, we need to know what are the moral boundaries and seek to place and reinforce them. On the other, we need to show mercy to those who have crossed those moral boundaries. We need to be level-headed enough to know that in such moments, it is not about being likable and nice to our people, but doing what is right, firstly, for the best interest of the vulnerable parties, and yet having and showing compassion when we see the brokenness and the need.
Thirdly, we need to trust that God is still in control when there is brokenness and injustice, and He is still holding all things together. We need to come to the realisation that we are not the Saviour of the brokenness in this world and we are not in control of negative events that happen. Only Christ is the Saviour and God is King/Judge. Our role is to be transformed into His image, to reflect and live out His character in our work with broken lives. That somehow these broken lives may be more restored and in order, that one day these lives may know the true Saviour and Lord.
Fourth, we need to be resting on Christ's work and performance for us. I need to continue to believe that I am His child, valued and accepted, regardless of my work performance. It's always easy for me to make an idol of my performance in my work, as if Christ's work on the cross for me is not enough. Doing my work in society well sometimes make me feel like I am more valued and of higher worth. And conversely, doing it badly makes me feel lousy about myself as a person. So each moment and each day has to be a reminder and conviction of who I already am in Him because of Jesus' work on the cross.
May Micah 6:8 be a resonating theme in our hearts and in our lives,
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
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