How God’s Heartbeat for Justice Matters in Your Daily Life
The Bible is crystal clear that there is no good in us—absolutely none—apart from God.
3. When your daily vocation doesn’t seem to be tied to justice, expand your vision.
You may be asking, “That’s all well and good, but what does this have to do with my calling and identity? I’m a paper-pusher, a nanny, a nurse.” This has everything to do with you if you open up how you define justice.
The greatest injustice is that Jesus Christ is not known, loved and worshipped by every human being—for we were made in His image to be in relationship with Him and carriers of His glory.
His heart is shattered over this most of all. Believe me, He has allowed me to feel a tiny fraction of it in prayer for different unsaved people groups.
You may even be thinking, “I have no idea what my calling is. I can tell you with absolute confidence.”
The final words Jesus spoke as a Man echo in answer today: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).
It’s the great commission—the great calling of God on every single one of us to be fishers of men. It will look different for each of us, because He has given us unique talents, gifts, voices and positions of influence with others.
For some, it will look like ministering to the homeless. For others, it may be honing your ability to hear God’s voice so that you can prick up your spiritual ears during a lunch break with co-workers. For others, it will be loving the little ones in your charge with the love of Christ and practicing His presence when everything’s going haywire.
Maybe it’s seeking His strategic revelation as you’re writing lines of code for a software application that will help others. Maybe it’s not responding the way I want to toward one of my co-workers or family members.
Maybe it’s writing a song or blog post that draws others toward His heart in some small way, or gives them language to pour out their own. Maybe it’s worshipping and praying as you’re driving around town, giving Jesus some of the love and adoration He deserves.
None of us can do this on our own. It won’t work. Father God desires your collaboration with Him, not just participation.
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest, therefore go—” Wait, no, He didn’t!
In Matthew 9:38, after lamenting how few laborers there are, our Savior exhorts His disciples: “Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He will send out laborers into His harvest.”
The first step we so often skip over is to pray and listen. Come before the Lord and ask for His heart and strategies; Heaven knows we need it in the pro-life movement. Only after over 40 years under Roe v. Wade has a cry of compassion and adoption superseded our human impulse to stand in outrage or offense.
We must pray until we get the breakthrough in the Spirit. Father God is burning with desire to come into our lives and make wrong things right.
For over a decade, Terri Shepherd has taken part in pro-life advocacy with Bound4LIFE—a grass-roots movement to pray for the ending of abortion and for revival worldwide. She graduated from TheCall Institute at the International House of Prayer University in Kansas City, and earned a degree in social work from the University of Central Florida. Living in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband, Terri works at a leading Christian public policy organization.
Reprinted with permission from Bound4LIFE.
