He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (NKJV)
We are saved by grace, through faith and not our own works! But God does have an expectation for our lives. It's not a conditional expectation – His love does not hinge on it – but it's much like a normal parent child relationship. Every good parent expects their child to hold themselves with a certain air of grace and dignity. Note that all these requirements are about how we treat others.
1) “Do justly” – live guarding and fighting for a sense of justice on behalf of others. Where there is lack we should be fighting for provision. Where there is mistreatment, we must pursue the restoration of value.
2) “Love mercy” – I once heard a preacher say “I don't love cats, but I love mercy… so I'll treat them with mercy”. We don't have to be best friends with every person, but we do have to treat them out of the same mercy Christ has shown them… after all, we are one body (Eph 4:4) and the way we treat others is actually affecting us!
3) “Walk humbly” – You're inevitably going to face one of two things in this life; humility or humiliation. Humility is a free choice and humiliation is thrust upon us when we don't choose the first option. Get it straight now that you'll choose the road of humility. Pride always has to win the argument… will always expect things done its way… must always be in control and will put its own needs above others. But pride always, without fail, comes crashing to the ground.
Choose today to walk humbly… it'll make you far more attractive and set you up for a win! Big love today…
