Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

 

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8 ESV).

 

Whenever I am asked about living a life that exemplifies a Kingdom citizen, I usually go to the prophet Micah. In our reading today he tells us three things that describe the actions of a child of God. It was never enough for the prophet to speak out for the Lord against the unjust practices of his day. He also conveyed the desire of God. God is not concerned about what the practice of religion except when it accurately represents who we are at the core of our hearts.

 

The core of his writings comes from how he pictured people asking how they might please God with offerings to pay for their sins: “What is it that God wants from us? How much must we sacrifice before God will be happy with us?” (v. 6). The answer is simple and yet profoundly life-changing: If you practice injustice, it doesn’t matter how much you sacrifice to God. The Lord calls us to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with him. Then we may bring our offerings and find favor with God.

 

In his day there were those who used weighted scales in their sales. His message is simple: Stop your price gouging! End the practice of driving people into poverty so that you can buy them as servants and slaves. Practice justice. And even more than that—love mercy. Give freely to your poor neighbor rather than scheming up ways to make them your slaves. Find ways to relieve poverty rather than profiting from it. There will never be a time when God is pleased with profiting unjustly, especially when it involves negatively impacting the poor and needy. Listen to Jesus:

 

[Jesus said] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV).

 

Act justly… love mercy… walk humbly! That is what we are called to be in the Kingdom of God!