Monday, January 09, 2006

Walk Humbly, Act Justly, Show Love and Mercy



Now what? That's how I feel sometimes, like I'm chasing my tail. I learn life lessons and really feel like I have accomplished something. I can rest on my laurels. Why do I forget that life is journey, not a goal.

In all my running around, in all my crowded life, as I try to find more things and more activities that will make God pleased with me, Micah 6:8 creeps in and defuses my noble but mistaken intentions. Look at the verse, what do you think I could bring before the Lord of the universe? What could I possibly do to impress Him? What could be the teaching and heritage that I could leave behind with all the people I come in contact with? Looking at me what would be their impression of how God means us to walk through this world? This is the beauty of the passage:

"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Everyone knows what justice is. Every toddler know how to love kindness and mercy. And children also are good at walking humbly with God. Maybe it's because they haven't done anything "Great" for God yet. Or maybe in their young lives they haven't done anything so bad that they feel the need to make up for it. Whatever the reason children have the wonderful ability to accept the gifts of God at face value without arrogance or embarrassment.

As we mature to adults, we do struggle with it. Pride in our accomplishments in this world moves in. We become the sum total of our ability to acheive. The world rewards us for a "job well done". It feels good to receive accolades and soon that becomes our goal. Pretty soon we are chasing our tail and there's not enough time or energy to reserve for prayer time, reading the Bible or going to church. Then we stop and wonder why life seems so empty. There's never enough time. Depression sets in. We are burned out. We get sick. Type "A" behavior to the extreme that I take it never works--it sets up a vicious cycle.

If I walk humbly with Jesus, my shepherd and let Him do the leading, I can accept His goodness, His tender grace and His unfailing mercy, I can turn to others in love and mercy and be just. I can encourage others to do the same.

Dear Jesus, your mercies are new every morning. I want to accept your Love and Grace so that I can pass them on.

1 comment:

Diana said...

I second that, Ronnie. It's the grace light bulb! We desire so much to do good for God, and like a Daddy He accepts it with a smile and either chastens us to get back on the path or gives us more to be responsible for. But He knows if it's just our pride trying to earn our salvation without Christ's Spirit, and I'm not sure He smiles at that.

My favorite passage is this:

John 6:28,29 (New King James Version)
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”