“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8
Today is my day of birth. Another year has rolled around and I’m another year older. I hope I’m another year wiser. This morning I was reading this devotional about having nothing between us and the Savior and the verse (featured above) at the end caught my attention.
I started contemplating on what exactly does the Lord require of me. I have been on this earth for 54 years now and what is it that God wants of me. Some churches and some preachers even require a long list of do’s and don’t’s to get through life. God has made it quite simple as to the way to have true happiness in this world.
First, we need to make our peace with the God of this universe to find that eternal happiness. It is truly Jesus Who saved us and Him alone from the wraths of eternal hell.
But Micah has given us three things required of the Lord. The Jewish people were asking what riches they might bring or what they could do to please the Lord and Micah let them know that God didn’t want their money but their hearts. God requires these three things in order to find complete happiness.
DOING JUSTLY
We must walk through life doing good to all men and not treating them in any way evil. That seems like an easy task but that means not showing road rage and not hating someone. We need to guard our hearts against evil towards those that do us wrong. When we are wronged in life we should seek God out to help us find peace because revenge will not bring peace. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
LOVE MERCY
Mercy is treating someone better than they deserve. This is a difficult one for us to follow through with. We want others to have that “pound of flesh” so to speak. But, God is asking us to show others the mercy He daily gives us in our lives. Luke 6:36 tells us; “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD
In walking humbly with God we will be pleasing to Him. Enoch walked humbly with his God and God blessed him tremendously. His testimony of pleasing God was strong. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5) In the course of our walk with God when we are humble we will do His will, keep in constant communion with God and study to know Him better.
So as I march into my next year of life, I’m going to remind myself that I am blessed with a salvation that means Jesus paid it all. I will remind myself that I need only to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with my God. I trust you’ll be able to say the same thing!
Thank You, God for 54 years!
