Listen to me. If you are being bullied in school, God knows about it and God hates it. If you are being harassed in the workplace, for any reason, God hates it. If you are being taken advantage of–or if you are taking unfair advantage of someone else–there will be a day of reckoning. If there is anyone anywhere praying for God to intervene and put an end to their oppression, eventually that prayer will be heard and that which is wrong will be set right. That’s the promise of Scripture.

Now, where does that leave us? Let me tell you a story.

A young black man asked his minister why their people had to suffer so much poverty, hardship, and oppression. “Why doesn’t God do something?” he wailed.

“He has,” said that wise pastor. “He has created you.”

And so Desmond Tutu, now the archbishop of South Africa, became the answer to his own question.

That’s a good lesson for you and me. While we are waiting for God to bring in a perfect and just society, you and I are God’s answer to the injustice in our world. That’s what it means to take up a cross and follow Jesus. It’s not a comfortable position to be in. It’s not popular. But it is Christ’s way.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com