What to do?

Micah 6:8 ESV

8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Intro

Many of us spend to much time worrying about what we can “do” for God. We get focused on a mission or an assignment so much that it becomes the entire identity of our relationship with God. In fact many people don’t do anything because they don’t think they can do anything. We don’t measure our value and obedience based on our assignment. Yes part of God’s will for your life involves assignments. But these things change, and they are different for each person. More important than our obedience in our assignment, is our obedience in our character. Micah gives us 3 character traits that God desires in us. Justice, Kindness (or mercy) and humility.

These traits are reflections of the heart of a person. And at the time of Micah, the nation was in a place where it was full of injustice, greed, selfishness and evil. They thought that there services would be enough, there sacrifices and ceremonies would be enough. But God above all of those things wants a people with pure hearts that love him.

Do Justice

In this context, the best way to describe this trait is to simply just do what is right. Micah was talking to a people that would do anything but the right thing. They reject what is right to do what feels good to them. The right thing is many times the hard thing. The right thing goes against the grain and as the world moves further from the truth, the right thing is less accepted. Churches all over are bowing to the agenda of this “progressive christianity”. Everything is just “between you and God” because we have cowards that are more interested in crowds than souls. Destructive things are always easy. Doing what is right requires some grit. More than that it requires empowerment by the Holy Spirit but so many of us are so disconnected from him that we don’t have the strength that he gives.

Doing justice is more than just “not doing wrong”. Doing justice means taking action where God says to take action. “DO” Justice is the clue for us to know that at some point we will have to do something. Not doing anything when God has called you to do something is sin.

James 4:17 ESV

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

What is the right thing? To stay in bed when the weather isn’t the greatest or you are tired from Saturday night, or to get up and go worship the lord on Sunday morning?

Love Kindness

Other translations may say “Love Mercy” but they mean the same thing. What Micah is speaking is that God desires for us to show undeserved love and kindness. It is essentially “loving your neighbor as yourself” as Jesus said was the second greatest commandment.

Walk humbly with God

God is relational and personal. He wants us to have a daily walk with him. He wants us to pour our heart out to him, to know us deeply and for us to know him deeply.