Fundamentals

He has shown you, O mortal, 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. Micah 6:8

When I need a self check on my faith life, I go back to this verse. It is as profound as it is simple, and easy to understand, yet difficult to practice. We can get caught up in the minefield of differing theological views, and some are held dear, but our mission statement has everything to do with our heart’s motives.

We are required to seek and practice justice, mercy and humility. If we are good and careful, we might get one out of the three, or if we are super faithful, we might get two out of three. What does it take to meet all three of these requirements. They are not optional, or nice to have on a good day. They are ‘required’. Important, necessary, essential to our God.

Micah wrote this verse some 700 years before the birth of Christ, and was preparing the way for Jesus’ birth and ministry. He is setting the scene for the church of his day, and the hearts of his people tomorrow. Without redemption through Christ, these three essentials would have seemed impossible, but we are living with the benefit of salvation. We know the rest of the story that Micah prophesied about, and although still a tough call, we can aim, and aim high to achieve justice, mercy and humility, but only with the help of the risen Christ, it can be more easily achieved. Of course first of all we must want to try. On a personal level, do I really want these characteristics in my heart and life? If so, then I must trust and believe it is possible, but only with the power of Jesus behind me. Is it that personal to you too?