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

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