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DO JUSTLY, LOVE MERCY, WALK HUMBLY.030416

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Natur Wald“What does the Lord require of you?  Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8                                 [From a letter to my kids]

            To “do justly” means to treat other people like you’d like to be treated. (Matt 7:12) To be fair, to take care of folks.  To do what you say you will.  Like my Daddy says, “A man’s word is as good as his bond.”   “He … swears to his own hurt and does not change;” Psalm 15:4.

            To “love mercy” means that you realize that the only way to live long and do good is to have God’s mercy on a regular basis, and you realize that to get mercy you have to give mercy.  You realize that mercy is better than judgment, any day.  If you have to choose between punishing somebody or letting them loose and forgetting about it; LET THEM LOOSE.  “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.” (Rom 12:19)  “Blessed, (happy) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Matt 5:7.  The second great commandment originates in Leviticus 19:18, where it says, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Mercy means to forgive and forget.

            To “walk humbly with your God.”  That means that you realize that God is everything, and without God you are nothing.  In Romans 12:3, “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.” [paraphrase]  You’re no better that the least of these.  “He who would be great, first let him serve.” Mark 10:43. “The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” Matt 20:16.

            “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;” 1 Corin. 1:27.  Just remember that it’s not your power, but the power of God within you, and you’ll do just fine.

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What does the LORD require of you? 010515

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 Well, what does the LORD require of you?  He requires us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God”  Micah 6:8

This verse makes me think of what someone said about getting down to the essence of things. In this case, how do you have a real, long-lasting (i.e., eternal) relationship with God?

First, do right (justly). Trust and obey. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Don’t worry about anything.  Surrender your whole self to Jesus (inside and out).

Second, “love mercy”.  In other words, love to receive mercy from God, and love to pass it along to others. Love not judging others, but leaving judgment to somebody else, and focus your whole attention on giving everyone as much mercy as you can. With forgiveness, we’re supposed to forgive others in the same measure that we have been forgiven—likewise, mercy is both sides of the same coin. Give mercy abundantly, overflowing, not holding back, with all your heart and soul and strength. Love cutting everyone some slack, a ‘lotta’ slack, all the time. If they need judging, the world and ultimately God will see to it—not me; not you.

Third, “walk humbly with your God.” What does that mean? The simple, clear part is that it means you are supposed to maintain an attitude of humility in relation to God, one that says, “Without God I’m a worthless piece of manure; so I better continually keep in mind Who God is, and what a great privilege it is for me to get to know Him, and have a relationship with Him.” The harder part is what “walk humbly” means in relation to other people. What would it mean if we said, “Walk humbly with your God, [and with others]”. Then it would mean something different, perhaps something like, “Realizing that we are with God all the time, and He is with us all the time (whether we’re paying attention or not), we should “walk humbly” with everyone around us.

How’s that? Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think (Romans 12:3).  Don’t take the best table at the banquet (Luke 14:8). Like it says in 1 Corinthians 13, “Don’t demand your own way. Don’t be jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Be patient [put up with them] and kind.” Funny, that passage is supposed to be talking about love, but notice how it is all intermeshed with what it really means to be humble? What a blessing we’d all be to those around us if we just acted out that passage in our everyday, normal, ordinary lives. Surely that is what Micah is talking about when he says, “Walk humbly with your God.”