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.http://bible.us/Mic6.8.NIV
I was reading this passage in my Daily Readings from YouVersion and it struck a chord with me in terms of the Real Men Challenge. Let’s consider some of the parts:
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
In today’s modern society, the plurality of values, beliefs and directions that pull at a man often gives us all difficulties in how we should live our life. Yet, in this statement, God has quite clearly said:
1. I know what is good
2. I reveal what is good to you
If you have been struggling with life, with relationship, with faith this is a great beginning to getting ourselves on track. God was there in the beginning, He made heaven and Earth. He made ME, YOU, everyone. He knows what is good. He TELLS us what is good.
And what does The Lord require of you?
This is part of the challenge of life. We are accountable to God. We are not an accident of birth. We belong to God, are made by God and been given a purpose by God. We can try and live our lives like God does not exist. We can try and live life that WE are in charge, we rule, we make decisions, but ultimately, we must give an account to God for our life.
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
This a short list, it is not complete in that it doesn’t cover every aspect of our life, but gee … if we lived life this way, how much would our world be a better place.
1. To act justly
Justice is a constant theme in the Bible, both old and new testament. It begins with the concept that God is Just. That God acts Justly and expects his people to act justly. The concept of acting justly also deals with our responses to good and evil in our lives. That despite our desire to strike out, seek revenge, hold grudges … we need to act justly. Perhaps that means surrendering our rights to personal revenge to the authority of the land, the Police and the Courts. It can also mean that when we see injustice that we take steps to deal with the injustice. Ignoring evil, ignoring injustice makes us as compliceant as those who are doing the wrong acts.
2. To love mercy
Mercy is about power. The power to act or do nothing. To respond or to ignore. We find people, situations and circumstances in which we have the power to act then mercy requires us to put aside our personal prejudices, bias and political perspectives and show mercy.
3. walk humbly with your God
Men, we don’t really do this well. I think of it this way. Men are driven, achievers, task focussed people usually. What that means is that we tend to be a bit selfish (striker out bit and write a lot selfish). To walk humbly with your God strikes at the core of us men who want to be always in control, always striving, always competing. It doesn’t mean we should not try and do our best and be high achievers, but this is about putting ourselves into a right perspective. Remember the bit about being accountable to God, this is the bit about being in right relationship with God. It is also about taking a walk with God. Not running down the road and expecting God to follow. No, it is actually a walk in the park together, just chewing the fat. Walking in relationship in a way that we hear from Him, learn from Him and ultimately obey Him.
Neil Stott