Micah chapter 6

The Lord presents his case against Israel, and what a case it is. The mountains and hills were a witness of the pagan altars and Asherah poles they had built to sacrifice to false gods. They had oppressed the poor, used dishonest measures, extortion, violence, lying, cheating. Nothing new there then as all of that is still going on today.

And God asks them what exactly he has done to make them tired of him, for them to turn away and worship false gods. And what could they, or we, possibly say to justify it? Has God been wicked, cruel, overbearing? Has he brought calamity after calamity down on us, chased after us, threatened us, punished us? Or are we where we are today because of the things we have done, the lifestyle we have led? One of those questions that you can give all sorts of answers to depending upon what you believe in.

I know I believe in God, that he is full of love and grace and mercy, slow to anger, quick to forgive, never changing, all knowing, all seeing. And here, He is telling us how we should live our lives: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.

Many people are good people. They are kind, considerate, charitable, always willing to help out, want to see justice done, help those suffering, they act justly and love mercy. But the third requirement is to walk humbly with God, and I reckon this is the most important one, because if you are walking humbly with your God, then acting justly and loving mercy will come naturally. After all, how can you possibly walk humbly with God and then use dishonest scales in your shop, refuse to help someone in need, demand more than your fair share of everything?
But being good is not a "get into heaven" card, anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car. Faith without good works, as James says, is meaningless. If we are truly believers in Christ, and have accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour, and are seeking to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God, then things will change in our lives. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and He will change us from within to become more like Jesus, although I know he has a hard task with me, and a very long way to go. It may be a gradual change, it may happen overnight, it may be a combination of the two. But change we will.

There is a saying, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." It is just the same with believers. We cannot say we are Christians if we are bossy, bullying those we work with, lying, gossiping, being full of pride, anger, jealousy, carrying on with that affair, cheating the taxman, and so on. One day, we will all have to give account of every word and deed, and yes, we may have been forgiven, but imagine having to stand before God trying to explain why you were continually angry with your spouse, your children, why you lied on your cv to get that job, why you told everyone the piece of news that was told to you in confidence….And the thing is, God already knows you are doing/have done these things, and He sees you no matter where you are, knows your every thought, your actions, your motives. He is omnipotent, with the ability to watch over the birth of the babies that are being born every second, be with the people dying every second, answer prayers, co-ordinate everything, control everything, and to be with each and every one of us at the same time. Awesome!

We need to line up our talk and our walk, practise what we preach, act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.