Three Steps

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with our God. Micah 6:8

Well then, there you have it!  The Prophet Micah summed it all up in one brief verse of Scripture!  Do the right thing, love things that are good and walk humbly with God. So  I’m wondering; if it’s that simple how do I manage to mess it up so often?  I think the place where I get all snarled up is trying to make things more complicated than they need to be.  I can be the “Queen of Overthinking” and it just leads me farther away from the honest, simple root of my purpose…anybody with me there? (I am seriously hoping there are readers out there nodding their head in agreement!)

Let’s see if I can back up the truck and do a better job with these three simple expectations. Step one: “do the right”.  I guess I should ask myself, the “right” for whom? More often than I probably even recognize, I’m interested in doing what’s “right” for me!  I have a tendency to do “Christian good” when it’s convenient for me.   I’m good at helping and praying and doing nice things when it fits in the schedule but what about when I really have to go out of my way to do good?  I also have to stop and ask myself about how many times I don’t “do right”.  What if I know there is a conversation going on that I should keep my nose out of but I just have to listen in anyway, what do I do if the talk turns into gossip, how do I “do right” and get out of that conversation?  I suppose this simple directive should keep me out of those conversations in the first place.

Step two:  “Love goodness” I don’t think Micah was simply referring to lovely flowers and other good things found in creation.  I think he was challenging us to something bigger.  Here’s the deal with loving goodness…it isn’t always fashionable, popular or common.  Loving goodness requires us to love without judgment.   It means we look for the good and Christ like even in people who look very different than us. We can be pretty narrow in our description of what is “normal” in this society and turn a squinty eye at things that diverge from that vision. I believe the greatest sound and sight EVER is a child!  They are the ultimate “Good” created by God.  Not long ago I was visiting with a family who was joyfully announcing the upcoming birth of their 7th child and I was so excited for them and honored to share in their joy.  That baby will be the most loved child on the planet!  As I walked away from the family I overheard two women speaking critically about them and one woman said, “How do they think they are ever going to give that many children what they need?  She doesn't even work so they are doomed to a life of hand-me-downs and Wal-Mart shoes.” I wanted to speak but the tears stung in my eyes and my heart hurt so bad I couldn’t even talk. if I had that moment to re-live I would ask when Nike’s and designer clothes became more important in forming Children of God than the overflowing love of a family. Loving goodness means having great compassion and respect for EVERYTHING God created and doing everything in our power to defend it without casting worldly judgments.

 Step three:  “Walk humbly with our God” The real trick with this one is to realize we can’t be in charge!  It really should read, “Walk humbly BEHIND God.”  We might do a better job if we remembered we can’t be first in our Christian walk, God Himself must occupy that spot.  Walking humbly means coming to terms with the fact that we are NOTHING without HIM and the more we give Him credit for, the more He blesses us.  God doesn’t need our approval or our praise in order to build Him up and support His ego or self-esteem…He needs praise and adoration from us so we can practice humility and submission to His will for our lives.

A Seed To Plant:  Pick one of the three ideas from this reading from Micah and put it to work this week.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you choose the one your soul needs most!

 Blessings on your day!