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What Does the Lord Require?

             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)

Three steps to the perfect Christian walk. Easy peasy. We just get the government to make people treat minorities as minorities want to be treated, sigh in empathy with people who are hurting (if they deserve it), and go about our day convinced that God is pleased with us. Right? OK, maybe you would put it a little differently, but it’s the same basic idea, and it demands little from us. After all, we are good, just, merciful people. We don’t cheat or misuse people; if we do, they deserve it, and extenuating circumstances make it necessary and OK.  

Seeking justice may sometimes have to do with righting a wrong that person did to this person or to us, but I suspect that justice often has to do with your righting a wrong you did to someone else. How far will we go to see that our wrongs are made right? If the truth were told, we don’t want to go far. We want mercy. If the one we wronged could demand $1000, we want them to demand $10.When we’re the wronged one, if we don’t demand the full amount, we want to be recognized for our mercy. Recognition can be as valuable as the money we’ve “mercifully” chosen to forego.

Recognition makes the third requirement difficult. We’re willing to walk humbly with our God as long as others know what we do. We want to be seen as good people and good Christians. See how humble we are?

Rather than being easy, acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly isn’t easy-peasy. It can and often does require every ounce of strength we have. And still, it is impossible, apart from the grace and mercy of God.

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