A River of Righteousness

Amos 5:24 and Romans 12:19-21

I get the image of a mighty, rushing river flowing. Can you hear the sound? Can you sense the power? Can you imagine the mist blowing on your face, even standing at a distance? This is how God wants justice to flow. The scriptures teach that justice means to make right and whole. The problem is only God can do that, leaving our attempts at justice partial at best. Today’s verse from Amos points to what you and I can do in our world when human justice falls incomplete — live for God anyway. Amos called it an endless river of righteous living. The Apostle Paul later wrote in Romans about how we can put this into action even when injustice becomes personal: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21). God doesn’t want us to become religious vigilantes, but vessels of grace and mercy. So let’s go do that. Let’s go live righteously today, even when everything else seems so wrong. This is God’s way. This is God’s preferred method of flooding the world with justice flowing endlessly like a mighty, rushing river.