Injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere. – Martin Luther King Jr. 

Just a few years ago many of our cities were filled with marchers and sometimes rioters, crying out “No justice, no peace.” Whatever the motive, peace cannot exist in the absence of justice. Peace is dependent on justice. 

While the United States isn’t perfect, it has one of the best justice systems in the world. But it’s estimated that five billion people around the world do not live under a just legal system. They’re imprisoned falsely or with no charges, victims of modern slavery, and live with high levels of insecurity that they will be victims, not of crime but of a brutal government. 

I’m thankful for a justice system that provides for presidential pardons. Pardons can correct a judicial wrong when a sentence has been overly harsh, or someone was wrongfully convicted. They can be an act of mercy. And Presidents can use pardons to correct historical wrongs or injustices. 

Sadly, the recent broad sweeping pardons by both Presidents, Biden and Trump, have undermined the fairness of our justice system and the average citizen’s confidence in governmental justice. Not only did President Biden pardon his son, Hunter, which was judicial nepotism, he granted pardons and commutations to more than 8,000 individuals, which was more than any other modern president. Thousands of his clemency grants were to serious criminals – murderers, child killers and abusers, and the biggest municipal embezzler in history, Rita Crundell. She stole $53 million from the city of Dixon, IL when she was the treasurer and comptroller. 

Yet, no sooner than he was sworn into office, President Trump used his power to pardon some who were undeserving. When it came to pardoning those who participated in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, even –Vice President J.D. Vance said that while peaceful protesters would qualify, but “if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.” Still President Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 protesters, including 172 who pleaded guilty when charged with attacking police with everything from bats, knives, tasers, and stolen riot shields, leaving cops with broken ribs, burns, and concussions, among other injuries. Those are violent crimes, unworthy of a pardon. It was presidential overreach undermining justice. 

In interest of full disclosure, I’m thankful for President Trump’s pardon of some pro-lifers. The Biden administration weaponized the judicial system to promote their agenda of unrestricted abortion. While the Biden justice department went after pro-lifers, some 50 cases, they didn’t prosecute a single case of the over 400 attacks on churches that took place in 2023 alone. In addition, they sought the longest prison sentences possible for pro-life advocates, no matter how peaceful their protests were. 

For example, among those caught in their prosecutorial net was 89-year-old, Eva Edl, a survivor of a communist concentration camp. For simply sitting at the entrance of an abortion facility in her wheelchair, praying and singing hymns, she faced a sentence of up to 11 years. That’s injustice and thankfully President Trump righted that miscarriage. 

Why is there injustice in our system? 

Much of the injustice in America is brought about by economic limitations. While there will always be ethnic and other abuses, most injustice is a byproduct of not having the financial means to afford a lawyer. In a criminal case, one is dependent on an overworked and underpaid public defender. 

There’s a large portion of society who are limited economically yet not by choice. They’re not addicts or welfare moms abusing the system. Many of the circumstances that cause poverty involve legal issues: from abandonment to divorce, unfair contracts or loans, unfair wages, fraud, and abuse. Justice for them can only be obtained through the law, yet the law can only be accessed through a lawyer, which they can’t afford. 

So, what’s a Christ-follower supposed to do? 

We must remember that God is the God of justice (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 33:5). What does it mean that God is just? The dictionary explains that someone or something that is “just” is “behaving according to what is morally right and fair.” God’s justice means that He is consistent, virtuous, innocent, and right. Since His justness is part of His unchanging nature, God is always right and just in whatever He does.

Our just God commands us as Christ-followers, to live justly, promote justice and encourage protection for the poor and disenfranchised. Our first response should be prayer. We pray for them and pray for justice. 

Where we can, we get involved. We encourage and even campaign for change, knowing that we’re working within a broken system built on values that are often incompatible with God’s way of life, hoping that by His grace, we can bring about positive and just outcomes. We must vote and support officials and judges committed to justice and moral absolutes. 

Then, we must speak up for the poor and care for them as we are able without compromising our biblical beliefs. It may mean loaning or giving money for an economically limited brother or sister in the faith so they can hire a lawyer if they can’t afford one, particularly in civil cases. It means taking time to go to court with them to support them. 

The Bible is a book about caring about the suffering of others. The parable of the Good Samaritan—where a wounded man is ignored by his countrymen and rescued by a societal outcast expounds on the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” by reminding us that we’re all neighbors. As God, cared for us, we’re to care for others. 1 John 3:18 urges us to “not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” As we do, we live out His love to a broken world needing His justice, mercy, and grace. 

God’s justice is an indispensable part of His character just as His love and mercy are indispensable. Without His justice, sin would run unchecked, and evil would win. Because God is just, we must be just. Micah 6:8 summarizes three qualities God wants to see in us: He has shown you, O mortal, 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.