The Lord Requires Three Things Of Us

Micah 6:8 - He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  NASU 

• Now We Know 

I have had Christians confess to me they just want to please the Lord. If you are one of those Christians then I believe Micah has the answer for you. He specifically states what the LORD requires of us.
 
First, we are to do justice. We are to practice justice. If we see someone being denied justice we are to speak up for the person being denied justice. We are to uphold what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

This may cost you a friendship, a position at work or it may cause you to be ostracized within the Lord's body, aka His church.
 
Just look at how the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and Priests turned on Jesus in fits of envy and jealousy.

Matt 27:17-18 - "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
 
As Christians, we must always remember being excommunicated from man's church doesn't mean one has been excommunicated from the Lord's Church.
 
Second, we are to love kindness or as some translations say to love mercy. If we are to understand this verse completely we must go back to verse 6 and 7 and see what verse 8 is being compared to:
 
Mic 6:6-7 - With what shall I come to the LORD  and bow myself before the God on high?  Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?  Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,  in ten thousand rivers of oil?   Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
 
Kindness and mercy is being compared to sacrifices and offerings. God expects the child of God to be a just person, a person who loves being kind to all people and especially to the ones who can never repay you.

If you show them acts of kindness and mercy then you are pleasing the LORD of all creation.
 
Third, you are to walk humbly with the LORD your God.  

In other words, you walk with God confessing He is the One you worship, love and adore. He is the One who can forgive you of your sins and allow you to be in a relationship with Him.

He doesn't want any of your possessions (burnt offerings, calves, rams, oil or sacrifices). He only wants you and all you can give Him.
 
The "all" that you can give Him is your obedience to His desires. In our text today He shares with us His desires. He desires we do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

Now I ask you, do those three desires seem unreasonable to you? 

• Walk Like This 

Gen. 5:22-24 - Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
 
Enoch walked with God. We don't know what they talked about as they walked over the years but we know one thing Enoch made a habit of it and it served him well.

One day Enoch was walking with God and the next second he was gone from earth to live with God for all eternity. How cool was that?
 
This is the greatest hope of the Christian to be walking with God while here on earth and then one day life as we know it is changed. We are now just a spirit separated from this body in the presence of God where we will await the end of this world as we know it.
 
We will enter what is called the New Heaven and New Earth after the final judgment day.
 
The question is why will we get to go to the New Heaven and New Earth?
 
The answer is Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross at Calvary, we believe in His sacrifice, and we believe in the atonement of His blood for our sins. This belief led us to be baptized into Christ and resurrected from that watery grave to serve our Savior Jesus Christ.
 
So if you want to please the Lord:
            1. Do Justice  
            2. Love Kindness/Mercy
            3. Walk Humbly with the LORD
 
Think About These:
 
It is just as well that justice is blind; she might not like some of the things done in her name if she could see them.
 
If you were arrested for being kind, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
 
A breath of kindness is more moving than a gale of flattery.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word