“Balancing Justice and Mercy is important to police officers,” wrote J. Warner Wallace in 2025. Read Micah 6:8. On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we are still reeling from the death of a 37-year-old mother who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Even with video evidence from several angles, people are in sharp disagreement as to whether this was murder or self-defense. City streets have been filled with demonstrators across the nation. On Sunday morning, God and I wrestled from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. about how to respond and what to say to the people of Wesley Chapel. The message was, “All people are made in the image of God. Let us not demonize people, therefore devaluing their humanity.” Detective Wallace wrote an excellent article last summer for police officers on the webpage www.thethinblueline.com. He wrote that police officers need to hold “offenders accountable while treating them with dignity. It means enforcing the law, but also recognizing the humanity in every suspect, victim, and bystander.” But what about protesters, especially those who are impeding ICE officials from doing their jobs? Why don’t they respect the law and the police? Martin Luther King, Jr. became famous because he led peaceful protests to improve the conditions of people of color. Black people broke the law when they drank from “whites only” water fountains. Rosa Parks broke the law when she sat in the wrong seat on the bus. King wrote, “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law." The prophet Micah wrote what the LORD requires of us: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Even 2700 years ago, a prophet wrote about the important combination of justice and mercy acting together. Today, as followers of Christ, we also add humility. Sometimes humility is simply refraining from judgment by not calling the ICE agent a murderer and not calling the mom in the SUV an agitator. Maybe each of them started the day with the determination to do the right thing and to make our world a better place. The day ended in a tragic death. Let’s respond by asking what we can do to be part of the solution instead of getting caught up in the rhetoric that divides us. Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.

God of all people, help us to embrace both justice and mercy. Help us to walk humbly together with you as we strive to make our world a better place. Heal the wounds of our nation and help us to be bridge builders between the division of the people. May the love we have for you and for people motivate us to serve the broken-hearted. Amen.