Charity vs Justice

So we have been throwing these two words around for the past week (and for longer than that) but what do they really mean.

Today we dived into their definitions. Charity and Justice.

My first 1 min definitions are below:

Charity - the act of assisting at the minimal level without addressing the core problem
Justice - seeing the core problem and working/striving for a solution

Boy was I off...

We divided in to these definitions much further. My small group talked charity. We drew a definition smiler to that of the one I came up with. When presenting we discovered how far off our view of charity had become.


You all probably noticed that my definition of charity sends a very negative tone. Well so did our group leader. She very clearly pointed out the positive and beautiful aspects of charity and how it is not a negative thing at all.

Therefore my new definition of Charity is as follows:

Charity- a way of living out discipleship by seeing a need and immediately addressing it with gifts from God, spontaneous acts of Grace, and unconditional Love. In some versions of the bible the word love is used instead of charity.


Justice now is something that I am still grasping, but that too has changed (after this conversation). as I understand it now ...

Justice - the standard of measurement used to create and provide a just life where we recognize one another as the body of Christ and live in community with each other.

Ok so if that was not a lot of learning for a day I came to another conclusion.

My Daddy has always used the scripture passage "feed my sheep." I knew what it meant but not really completely in his sense of the verse. And to be honest I kind of rolled my eyes when I knew it was coming.

After today, however, I can see how this verse puts the concepts of justice and charity in the most simple command. We are feeding his sheep because it is an immediate need that demonstrates our discipleship and unconditional love. Now if we link this to to the separation of the goats and the sheep we see that Jesus lives inside each of us and when we do to the least of these we do to him, which should set our standered for treating each other and living in community with each other.

One more insight (shred by Beth):

Micah 6:8 (New International Version)

⁸ He has showed you, O man, 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.

We walk with two feet. One foot Justice and One foot Charity (mercy). Just like it is very difficulty to walk with just one foot, so it to have Charity without Justice and vice a versa. Also when we walk it is to be humbly. It can be easy to think with superior attitude by thinking if you are doing one you are better than the other.


God sighting: The other day I woke up turned to my roommate and said I am really craving donuts. Today she was out and they drove by a Dunkn' and she picked me up one. I know this is not much, but it demonstrates the joy which comes from the simple act of giving and being the receiver of a small gift. Life is made up of many small tidbits, How can you influence a little moment in someone's life?