This worthy slogan was employed by Prime Minister Trudeau in his bid and successful attainment to the leadership of his party and subsequently to the office of Prime Minister of this country.
The trend towards this, I believe, is also reflected in the leadership of our neighbours to the South in their projection for the “War On Poverty.”
This is not the first step in the direction of the recognition of the equality and dignity of all human beings in their basic rights. There was the rise above the injustices of the feudal era, then the scrapping of the colonial period.
The problem the world faces in 1969 is the growing imbalance between having and giving, demanding and contributing, of living and let live. In this unfortunate age of discriminating tastes, undisciplined wants, and conscienceless demands, many segments of our general society look for a selfish brand of justice which, by their own interpretation, favours only themselves. Justice for the few at the expense of others. Pressure groups apply their pressures upon institutional and governmental leadership to be no more than just rubber stamps to endorse their wants and whims.
God, too, if given any place at all, is required to be this kind of convenience for the ungoverned want of these groups. A just society is not achieved by selfish wants accommodated but by responsible sharing of privileges and responsibilities.
The increasing rise of pressure groups to effect change under the guise of justice in the raising of the fist of defiance in factional, student, black, red, or ideological power is the most shameful abuse of justice.
A just society must be patterned after our just God whose justice is expressed first in His gracious giving. God spared not His Son, but gave Him up for us all; with Him, He gives us freely all things. (Romans 8:32). God gives “to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25).
God, who has the right to demand, graciously gives so that we may be one, even as the Godhead is one (John 17:23).
We have a graphic example of a just society in the Book of Acts where peoples of all ages, of all cultures, all levels, and all languages shared commonly in mutual love and respect. This is affected by the regenerating and anointing ministry of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:43-47; 4:33-34). The basic element in this happy functional co-existence is the desire and ability to give and NOT the power to demand.
This brings up two important factors that face us as Apostolic Pentecostal believers. First, there cannot be a functional just society apart from men generally being affected by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, this places a great responsibility on our shoulders to emanate this spirit of love and understanding among ourselves so that the world may see and believe. That in our circles there will be a witness of a just, united, and unselfish dedication to one another’s interests. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21)