Micah 6:8 “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? “

This is my life by verse, why you might ask? It very plainly tells me what God wants and expects from me. Let’s take a closer look at each thing, examine it for a few minutes and see what we come up with.

What does it mean to do justly? In simple words, it means someone who does what is right, preferably all the time, weighing out what my Lord will think about what I am doing and choosing to do what is right and good. I did not use to be so concerned with how it made my Lord viewed my actions, as many baby Christian’s I presumed upon His good grace knowing He said that I was forgiven for every sin, past, present and future. Nowadays when or if I find myself behaving in a way that is not Christ-like the Holy Spirit nudges my heart and shows me my error.

It may be a very small something, but God looks at everything and his view is what matters not my view. Psalm 106:3 also says, ‘Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right.” I do not know about you, but I want blessings coming my way!

The second things we are to do is love mercy. What is mercy? The dictionary says this ‘compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”

Being compassionate towards others, following that “
Golden Rule’, “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” Sounds easy enough, I certainly want mercy coming my way when I am wrong with forgiveness attached to it. What it does not say is this: “do unto others as they do to you, but do it first.”

Is not Jesus’s mercy Great toward us? We will never receive the punishment do us for our sin and unbelief! Wow! Once we repent and receive Jesus as Lord we are instantly forgiven, Gods great mercy follows us all the rest of our days! His mercy took his life, I doubt ours would ever cost us so much. I want to always press on with the cross in full view of my conscious mind, remembering the price he paid and the mercy he gave.

The last thing is this, we are to walk humbly with our God. What does it look like to walk humbly? I have heard this phrase said many times and I think it sums it up better than any other. ‘Being humble is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” My Pastor has said it time and again. We should not be the center of attention! Ours gaze needs to be first on Jesus and then on others. Actively looking for someone to help, love, show mercy to. Jesus did not walk around thinking of himself, he was outward focused and outward reaching. He was always about the good of others. Our culture today is so self -serving, it is me, me, its all about me generation. My world, my stuff, my good etc. Yes, there are people out there who do not fall into the “it’s all about me category”, but far too many are only focused on self. My desire is to obey this command, is it yours? Why is it so easy to accept mercy, but not to show and give mercy?

When you love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul, then each of us who wears the banner “Christian” should be looking more and more like Jesus as the days go by. Do you look like Jesus to others? Do you desire to please him in everything you do and say? Are you outward focused on the needs of others? Are you quick to forgive and show mercy even before it is asked for? Do you love? These are some quetions to think about and if you find that you are not activly doing these things, repent and ask the Holy Spirit to help you, I promise, He will!