Social justice: speaking about motivation

I've been writing a fair bit on social justice issues, and that's something I have planned to write about a bit. Although there are lots of voices speaking out about issues of social justice, it's rare to hear evangelical Christians - who care deeply about the Bible and what God has revealed there - speaking  about these issues.

This seems really strange to me, since when I read the great story of the Bible, I see that God is concerned about poverty, oppression, alienation, refugees and more, from beginning to end. It's because of reading the Bible that I've developed an interest in these areas - I'm called outside of my own needs and concerns to care about the circumstances of others, some of whom I have never and will never meet.

There's lots of voices speaking only about justice, though, and just presuming that people will care because it is a 'good' or 'right' thing to do. I think that can be a bit naive, since a lot of people are selfish and need something more than that to persuade them to action (unfortunate, but true - it certainly was in my case).

My aim on this blog is so explore what it looks like to be following Jesus in an urban environment. But I'm planning, when I speak about justice, to always talk about motivation and why I think these things are important.