Skip to main content

Church on Trial

 Church on Trial

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


Here’s a brief summary of Micah 6. Through the prophet, God put His people on trial and, as if in court, made a case against them. He testified of His goodness to them and witnessed that they had rebelled and rejected Him in return.


After being put on trial, the people replied to His charge by essentially saying, “You ask too much!” They listed a string of rituals and impossible requests. They essentially told God that He was impossible to please. “What do You want from us?”, they implored.


God’s response was one not filled with rules and temple rituals, but one that instructs them on how to ultimately please Him. What was God saying through the prophet? What is He saying to His people?


Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.


Do Justice - Give yourselves to others and, don't just seek justice, but serve justice. Act in a fair and just way to others.


Love Mercy - Show others the kind of mercy you desire for God to show you. Show mercy and love to show mercy.


Walk Humbly - Walk with your God and follow your God. Do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought (Romans 12:3). Walk humbly and attentively with others.


We are His people. Micah 6:8 synthesizes our dealings with God and other people as a way to bring us back to Him. Justice, mercy, and humility are good and what He requires from us.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back to Basics

As a young singer in high school, I had the privilege of being able to take voice lessons. Altogether, I took lessons for about 15 years or so. Although singing can be fun and is a performance art, voice lessons are not very glamorous. It is marked by hours of mundane practice - woodshedding. The most common teaching theme I learned was, “Don’t get too fancy” and “Practice the fundamentals.” They stressed that for me to grow as a vocalist, I needed to practice my vocalises and stick with the basics of sound vocal production. Only then would I be able to perform increasingly difficult pieces. The Apostle Peter instructs, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." (1 Peter 2:2 NIV) Peter’s allusion to babies and milk is interesting. How basic is that? I’m reminded of the instruction given to us in my childhood congregation when someone got saved. The instruction was to 1) Read your bible and pray daily and 2) Fast. It was ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Now That We’ve Found Love, What Are We Going to Do With It?

Isaiah 61:1: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…”  You, who are popular music buffs, probably recognize the title of this devotion from a song originally recorded by The O’Jays in 1973. It was written by the prolific producing and songwriting duo, Gamble and Huff. The song has been covered and recreated in multiple times from Martha Reeves to Heavy D and continued to be recorded by others well into 2010. Every time I hear it, the hook reels me in, whether slow, fast or in a reggae style. The lyrics for all of these versions recount some unrequited love where the pursuer is attempting to convince his or her love interest to take what they have to the “next level”.  The lyrics are a little goofy, but I’m drawn to this title because I, we, have truly found Love and Love has found us...
Post a Comment
Read more