Galatians 6 - Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For Everyone

What can I do?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Child prostitution, fair trade wages, genocide...these issues can all feel so big, what can one person do?

So many times we see injustice around us and feel inadequate to make a difference. Just driving my car through the city, I will see a number of people who are struggling and begging for money. I can't afford to meet all their needs or even meet all their needs for just one meal. And if I gave them money, how do I know it would be used in life-giving ways?

I think we have all wrested with these questions at one time or another. Galatians 6:2 tells us to:

² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

We can not ignore the struggles and injustice around us. But how can I change the world?

Well recently, I heard someone say, "Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." The truth is that I can't help everyone and if I were to try to spread around the money I had available to help those in financial need, each would get such a small amount that no one would really be helped. If we are to have an impact, we need to really invest in the right way. You need to go deep, rather than wide; go long-term, rather than short-term, go time, not just money.

The idea is that we need to find the issue and area that we feel God calling us to and then find the place to focus that attention. In Galatians 6: 9,10 we read:

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

If we examine our life and circumstances, the right opportunity will present itself. But we need to be aware and ready to do good and invest. No one person can solve a problem, but if you pick one person...one situation and really invest, you can have a great impact.

Now it is possible that you are reading this and thinking, it isn't fair to not help everyone. It is true, it might not be fair to take one homeless person for a meal and not another, but the truth is, it is OK not to do for everyone what you would do for one. If you only did things for one that you would/could do for everyone, you would be overwhelmed and overextended and no good to anyone. It is OK to just do for some.

What is the injustice or issue that God is calling you to? Can you identify one person or one place where you can invest deeply, over the long-term, with your time? You might not be able to do for everyone, but you can do for one.

Psalm 58 - The Importance of Injustice to Motivating Justice

This morning I read this psalm in the New Living Translation on my phone, and then started pondering it and considering the role of injustice in our world. As I sat down to write about it, I opened up the New King James Version and started to skim through it, but got no further than verse 1.

Justice- do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge people fairly? (NLT)

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? (NKJV)

What immediately struck me was the term silent ones in the NKJV. While I had originally considered this psalm in the light of people making choices that were actively unjust, that new term caused me to consider those who don't actively see justice.

Does this change anything for you? For me, it causes pause because it means I suddenly need to consider whether I have been silent while an injustice has gone on. I have to consider whether I am in the number that this psalm is speaking about. 

The other thing this highlights, is translational differences. In fact, before I looked at the second translation and started typing this, a conversation ensued this morning about translations, which was started with the comment made by a Biblical scholar who referenced the New English Version version of a scripture in his writings but then in a side note mentioned that that particular writer didn't see it as a accurate version, presumably because it is a translation that is based on ideas not a word by word translation. This progressed into a conversation as to whether adjustments that were made by scribes and scholars who were writing down oral records and transcribing religious writings that are included in the Bible were divinely managed...which led to a discussion of whether a sentient God could make the translations or adjustments that were not divinely inspired fade away...which led to talk about free will...and on iy went, but I digress from where we started. All this is to say that my morning prepared me to notice and be sensitive to the differences in translation.

So let's go back to this psalm, while the psalm starts with this question, it very quickly answers it with no and goes on to tell of the wickedness of the men this psalm is directed towards. But as I pondered all of this, I started to think of the role of wickedness and injustice. Some of the thoughts I had were:

• If there wasn't injustice, would we appreciate and understand the importance of justice?
• Because we have injustice, we have opportunities to speak out for and practice justice, how important is that is develop into the people we were created to be? Without injustice, could we reach and become all that God ordained us to be?
• If the world was just (which would alleviate many struggles that exist in the world), would we appreciate that state of affairs, or would we not realize the beauty of that state and just see wickedness in a different form?

I don't know about you, but if I look at my decisions, I can see times when I stood up for justice and times that I failed to. I believe that it is more the former than the latter, but I guess that I am not the best judge of that. What about you? What do you think about some of the questions above and what questions are you left with?