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Micah 6:8

"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 asks the question, with what shall I come before the Lord? Is God pleased with burnt offering, or anything that I give from the fruit of my hands or even my body? The answer is no. God is pleased with the heart attitudes of justice, kindness, and humility. Certainly these are three things that are at variance with what the world values. Perhaps that is why it is so hard. I am conditioned by my culture to think and behave in certain ways, yet God desires that I be counter-cultural. To do justice speaks of meekness, giving up personal rights and the revenge for anyone injuring those rights. Kindness is thinking about others and honoring them in deeds, words, and thoughts. Proverbs says that the law of kindness should be on my tongue. This would mean my flesh would not seek my will and its gratification but the well being of others. How different from my normal fleshly actions! Finally, I am to walk humbly before God because God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humility is the absence of pride, pride for what I do, who I am, my relationships, possessions, or position. Once again humility is not seeking to gratify myself first but it is thinking of others. What pleases God is focusing on Him completely and then reaching out to others. It is the absence of my fleshly self. But how?? Grace is His strength for my weakness! Grace is His power for my daily living! 

Father,

Teach me to live by grace alone, to do justice, to speak kindly, and to walk humbly with You.

In Jesus name,

Amen