Micah 6:8


He has shown you, O mortal, 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 ~ Micah 6:8

If you are new to Christianity, it may not be clear what God has shown us of that which is good, and what He has modeled for us to do. The first thing is to look to both the Ten Commandments, and to Jesus’ reduction of those ten into two: To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself. If this command is followed, then God is given His due and right from every person, and our neighbour would receive the same respect and care that we give to ourselves. As we should never do harm to our body (though, sadly I know this does happen in the real world), so we would never harm our neighbour. Again, sadly, I know this too happens far too frequently. Our world is fallen, and broken. But I pray that we as Christians stand as a light in this dark world, and follow the words of Micah, and of Jesus, and we do what is good. And that goodness is shown in our acts, through how we relate to others, especially when they fall out of doing what is good in their life. God is a God of justice, untempered by feelings of anger or envy, but ultimately by righteousness. Even in God’s anger, His justice is righteous, and not an emotional response such as when we act “righteously”. To receive from God is to have justice influenced by mercy, kindness, benevolence, and charity, especially when we, in receiving, complete it by honest and humble repentance. In humility, we acknowledge that we are tempted to iniquity, and that our salvation comes from Him alone, by His free mercy. Yesterday, I talked about imitating God. Today is more of the same instruction – be imitators of God, follow Him in His ways, in His love, in His justice, in His mercy. When we treat each other this way, we are exemplifying what Christ did for us on the Cross. This broken world would be such a better place if we lived in this way!
Devotion by Pastor Julia

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 8:26

Image
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans ~ Romans 8:26 Many days, many times, I have the words for prayer. It comes forth and flows fairly naturally as I converse with my Lord God. I hope in the God I worship to hear me, and to receive my words, as I pray in the name of Jesus and believe in Him, my intercessor. He is my Living Saviour, my High Priest, standing at the right hand of God the Father. But there are times when my pain has been so deep that my words will not come. There are times when my agony is so piercing that what words I may speak would not be enough. And so, in my deep, black moments, I come before my God and let my darkest emotions erupt in sounds that only He can understand. The Holy Spirit within me cries out in my stead, and He becomes my second intercessor. It is not that He is not there with me in all my prayers, but there are times wh...
Read more

Proverbs 18:2

Image
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in sharing their own opinions ~ Proverbs 18:2 If we are going to understand something, we must fully digest it so that when we speak, we speak with wisdom. When we have only half truths in our mind, our words become empty and senseless. We then puff out air rather than understanding when we speak. A wise person will want to improve their mind through learning in various ways from the world around them. A person who delights in spiritual understanding will find peace and enjoyment in reading the Word of God on a daily basis, and in participating with God’s people in a learning and praising environment – the church! We come together in corporate worship with the understanding that not one of us knows all things, but we bend our mind and heart to learn what God has to show and say to us. A foolish person makes a show of what they “know” to please their friends or to save face in front of them. More often a wise person will hold t...
Read more

Isaiah 43:19

Image
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ~ Isaiah 43:19 When we meet a challenge, we are often found discouraged, lost, even hopeless. Nothing is working, everything seems to be against us. We do not know how to move forward, so we remain curled up in a ball. Then, a glimmer of light shines through! Hope is regained and movement is stirred within. Don’t we become excited when we begin to feel it? God moves like that. We cannot see our way around it, but He can and does. And He makes a way for us out of the calamity of our fears. It is the feeling of springtime after a long winter, or the smell of fresh cut grass. Life stirs within and we move and we see what God saw all the time – the answer to our dilemma. Our desert place becomes an oasis, and we can do what we are called to do. Something totally unexpected happens, something unheard of, but it begins in our life, and we feel the...
Read more