Mission Devotional Day 12
What does the Lord require?
Mission Devotional Day 12
READ: Micah 6:8
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” God’s justice is his saving action on behalf of his people. Human justice is the effort that we make in response to God’s goodness as we carry out his will.
This familiar text from Micah does not intend to map out what we must do to be saved. Rather, it reminds us what a life that is captivated by the grace of God looks like. “He has told you, O mortal, 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?”
In our Presbyterian tradition we find, “Truth is in order to goodness.” In other words, right belief should issue forth in right living. Too often, in our consumer-driven culture in which even religion can function as a kind of marketplace, we imagine that life and faith are primarily about us, about getting ourselves saved, about getting our needs met. But the life of faith is not centered upon us. The text from Micah reminds us that the faith to which we are called is highly relational but not self-centered, personal but not private. We are blessed to be a blessing.
When we follow Jesus, he leads us out into the broken world to display his glory and grace through the witness of our lives as we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
Try putting into your own words the prophet’s call to “do justice?” Where do we learn what constitutes just action?
There is much in the Scriptures about how we treat the poor and about Jesus’ identification with those who are marginalized in human society. What relationship do you see between God’s concern for the poor and the petitions from the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”?
PRAYER
Dear Lord, amidst the clamor of voices seeking attention and making demands, please help me to focus on that which is important to you. May I love kindness, do justly, and walk humbly with you. Amen.