Injustice

It’s a topic I regularly struggle with, whenever I read the news; I’m so often hit by the injustice of this world. Some many of our problems arise from human greed for money and power, and they leave behind countless people in the chains of poverty they cannot escape from. Recently, our attention has been brought to the Thai fishing industry, built on slavery, reminding us yet again that slavery, despite being illegal, is still so apparent in our world, still destroying so many peoples’ lives. And the question I find myself asking: why does a just God allow this to happen?

I recently read this

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

Habakkuk 1:13

This verse struck me for two reasons.

God cannot tolerate the evil of this world. It’s an obvious statement, but so often when I am caught up in a situation I forget that it’s breaking God’s heart too. God didn’t design this world to be like it is, the world we live in is a consequence of the Fall, and it’s not how God wants it to be. When you read the law in the Old Testament you see God’s heart for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner. You see his heart for those who were powerless in society.

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.

Exodus 22:21-22

Therefore, when I look upon the injustice of this world, not only do I see those injustices, but I see a world that it is not how it ought to be. And I need to recognise that God cares, and like the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) who kept crying out for justice, so we need to get upon our knees and call out to God for his justice to come. 

The second thing was that sense of liberation. I don’t need all the answers; I can ask God the big questions. All through the bible you see God’s people struggling with the big issues. Some like Habakkuk are trying to comprehend how God allows injustice, but he’s faced the greatest injustice – he’s faced the punishment we deserve in order to allow us to stand in his righteousness. Others like David and Job struggle with suffering. They’re big topics and God knows that, he knows we’ll struggle with them and he invites us to struggle through them with him.

I recognise that this blog probably hasn’t answered any questions, and in a way it’s not meant to. So I’m sorry if you came here hoping for answers, but there are two important things you call do. Pray for those who face injustice and suffering and wrestle through your questions with God, because he is the only place where you will find the answers.

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

Lessons learnt from my day in a wheelchair

As some  of you will know, I have recently broken my big toe and consequently am struggling to walk. Last Saturday was my little sisters 16th birthday, so I went home to celebrate with her and went to Chester Zoo. I knew that 7 hours of none stop walking would be painful so I swallowed my pride and asked if I could be pushed around in a wheelchair, which my wonderful parents agreed to.

Being in a wheelchair meant that people treated me very differently, children stared trying to work out what was wrong with me. Whilst adults were helpful, allowing me closer to exhibits than they would have done otherwise, due to being in a chair. Which got me thinking, how do I treat people differently due to what they are doing/the clothes they're wearing the first time I meet someone. And, that I need to stop that. Firstly, the situation they are in maybe a one off, but secondly (and more importantly) why should a favour someone over someone else due to the first impression they gave off. I should get to know someone before a make a decision about what I think of them.

The second thing the day taught me is a more personal thing. I didn't want to spend the day in the wheelchair, due to knowing it was putting my parents out, who then had to push me round. I didn't feel I was injured enough to ask this of them. The only reason I made myself ask, was so it wouldn't ruined my sisters day. In the same way, when I was ill with depression I didn't want to depend on others because I wasn't ill enough. And I think this is an issue with a lot of mental illnesses. You perceive yourself unworthy of help, because people are more ill than you, and ignore the fact the people you are asking help off are better than you. Why? For me, it was because I didn't want to be perceived as being needy, I wanted to give across the impression of being better than I was, I didn't want to be judged. When I got out the wheelchair, I had a limp, which I felt justified me to everyone else who wondered why I was in the chair. But with mental illnesses, there are very few physical signs which makes it hard for others to see what is wrong.

So my challenge to you is this, next time see meet someone, don't jump to a conclusion about them. You don't know how life has treated them, and may never know, but that doesn't mean you should treat them any differently. For there is likely to be a reason behind the character trait that annoys you, or their outrageous behaviour, but treat them the same and try and get to know the person. And you'll be likely to find many amazing things that makes you forget those first impressions.

It's Upgrade time | Or is it?

The other day I received an email from O2 entitled: It's Upgrade time, Jessica. Which then proceeded to tell me about O2 refresh: 

'A new phone now.

A new phone whenever you want.'

Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea, no longer will people have to be locked into a contract with a phone they no longer like because it's no longer the latest model. But, what is wrong, is our attitude. Why should a perfectly good phone be deemed 'useless' just because it can't use 4G (or whatever the latest techy thing is) or because it's 6 months old so it now deemed 'old.' 

I don't understand this waste culture. My phone works fine, and want to know the reason I bought it in the first place, my old one (bought of a friend several years ago) had stopped working. I didn't ask for the latest model, as I didn't really care, but I did have one requirement: that my new phone stored the texts as a conversation, rather than individual messages.  

But now my two year contract has run out and society says I have two options. Get a new phone (and contract) or buy into this idea of O2 refresh, and get a new phone whenever I want. But the thing is my old phone works fine, it's a bit scratched and damaged, but it works. So what happens to it now. Does it just sit in my draw, a waste of some of the world's resources. Because while my one old phone in a draw doesn't make much differences, if everyone does it, well that's a lot of old phones sitting around all of which contain metals of some desciption. And why should we be wasting the world's limited resources like this?

So instead of following the crowd and going for an upgrade, I'm opting to stay with my phone, and just get a sim only contract. Because at the end of the day, I don't care. I don't own a phone to surf the net, check facebook and tweet, but to text and ring people. Radical I know. But I don't need an upgrade to do that. And if people care more about the model of my phone then me, I really don't see the point in texting them. Because my phone doesn't define me, it's just useful. So come a few weeks time, I'm going onto a Sim Only contract so I can do by bit to save the world's resources (and as an added bonus, save myself some pennies.)