Seven hundred years before Jesus walked the earth, the prophet Micah wrote words given to him by God; words that tell what God expects from His Children.
Micah 6:8
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
God loves us so much that He gave His Son so we may be restored to Him and receive the gift of eternal life (John 3:16). When we begin to understand the fullness of His love and place our complete trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin, it’s natural to ask: “What do You now require of me Lord?” But as we search the Scripture, we find no additional “requirements” for our Christian walk which are not summed up in the words of Micah.
As we live by faith, we must “act justly” by doing what is fair and right; “Anyone who does not do what is right is not a Child of God” (1 John 3:10). This means we live with integrity and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
God requires that we “love mercy” by showing compassion and forgiveness for others; “judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful” (James 2:13). It also means we live with a continual thankfulness for God’s mercy toward us. An understanding of God’s merciful forgiveness of our sins should compel us to forgive and show mercy to others. Without God’s mercy, we would all be lost.
The final requirement is for us to “walk humbly” with our God. The word humble means to place a low value on “self.” This is not a very popular concept in our “me-first” generation which seems to reward the individual who is prideful and confident in his own ability. We are trained to achieve, acquire, and rise higher than we believe possible; but God calls us to submit and walk with Christ continually exalted above all else in our life: “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).
True humility is required for proper worship and thankfulness before God. We did NOTHING to deserve eternal life and yet we have received. We are made worthy and given value without having done anything to earn our Salvation. This heavenly gift ought to produce a never ending stream of praise from our heart and cause us to focus less on ourselves and more on the needs of others.
All we have, and ALL we are, has been given to us by a loving God who created the Universe and accepted us into His Kingdom through faith in His Son. Let’s glorify Him with every step we take; and with each step of faith, let’s remember to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.
Have a Christ Centered Day!
Steve Troxel
God’s Daily Word Ministries
**** Reading Plan ****
Nov 20 Ezekiel 40:28-41:26; James 4:1-17; Psalm 118:19-29; Proverbs 28:3-5
