"He has Showed You what is Good"

"With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Micah 6:6-7

So often we ask the same thing. What should I offer my God? What will compensate for my wrong-doing? We begin to live a lifestyle of works, thinking that if we work hard enough and do enough good deeds God will be pleased. Wrong. James 2:17 says "....faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead." This is true. However, so often we focus on the action of doing and overlook faith in the equation. We do not serve a God that can be bought. All the good deeds in the world cannot save your soul. I'm not saying there isn't a place for good deeds. Jesus himself, called us to love the poor and the weak. What I am saying is empty works are just that--empty. God is not looking for a resume' of good works--for someone to buy their way to heaven out of guilt. He is looking for a person, who will live with integrity, who will honor Him inside and out.

Right after the question was asked, "with what shall I come before the Lord?" the answer was given in Micah 6:8. “He has showed you, O man, 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." Let us think on this for a moment: to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God. Notice the lack of commas which would suggest that one be done after the other. No, instead "and" appears in its place. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "and" as a function word to indicate connection. Verse 8 says that we should "live justly and love mercy and walk humbly." Each should be done equally and simultaneously with the previous. It isn't an option of picking and choosing.

What does this mean? It means that as believers we are called to act in a way that honors our brothers in Christ but more importantly our God. It means to be merciful to our neighbor and when our neighbor isn't merciful in return to love them anyway. Finally it means to rid ourselves of pompous thinking--to move our focus from ourselves to others and Christ and to live graciously. I can guarantee that this is not an easy thing to do. I also guarantee that there will be times when we will cry out to God. But I know that if we don't examine our hearts and rid ourselves of all unrighteous (including selfish gain) that one day, you and I both will look back and regret not living to our fullest potential which is to honor Christ.

"Father, show me how to strip myself of selfish gain. Envelope me. May my every breath be for Your glory. Without you, my life is meaningless. May I not live on this earth only to die in vain, having not furthered Your kingdom. To You be the glory, forever and ever. Amen."