Restore Not Wreck

All of us, at one time or another, call out for justice to be done. We want things to be done fairly. Of course, it depends on your point of view as to how justice is to be done.

On television, the reality judge shows reveal the completely different stories that are to be decided. And in the after-show interview, usually, one party is not happy because they did not get their justice. And you can forget any reconciliation.

At the end of the day, while justice is important, the goal is to reconcile people so that they can live at peace.

In the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 33), things got so bad that Jacob ran away from home because Esau wanted, literally, to kill him. This was sibling rivalry at its worst. After decades of being apart, they came together again. This was not an easy meeting. Reading the story, you can tell that they still have trust issues. And yet there is some form of reconciliation. They hug and weep. And yet… at the end of the story, Esau goes back to the family home, while Jacob lives in another place, within sight of a city, perhaps for safety, just in case.

While they have come back together; while some agreement has been made and past misdeeds forgiven; Jacob and Esau may be able to live in the same country, just not in the same community.

In our search for justice, we can keep in mind the goal is to restore peace, not wreck people as we strive to be “The Hand of God, in the Heart of the City.”

Peace,
Colin Bain
Director of Support Services