"No, O people, the LORD has already
told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to
do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
your God." ~Micah 6:8
Are you a good person; a good spouse; a good parent?
What does it mean to be good anyway? The answer to this
question can be rather subjective. Many of us may have
different ideas about what goodness actually is. One thing
is for sure, we cannot truly understand goodness without
first acknowledging the Standard - Jesus Christ - and
the Source - God's Word. Psalm 14:3 reminds us that "There
is no one who does good, not even one." Goodness
does not naturally reside in our hearts.
Jesus picks up this theme in Mark 10:17-18 (NIV) "As
Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell
on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what
must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'Why do you call me
good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good--except God alone.'"
What Jesus shows this man, and what we learn about ourselves,
is that all too often we overestimate who we are, and
underestimate who God is. We are guilty of making ourselves
too much like God, and God to be too much like us.
Jesus tells this man if he will simply keep the commandments
then he would have eternal life. This fine gentleman responds
like many of us would, "I've kept all the commandments;
I've done everything God requires of me." Jesus simply
replies, "One thing you lack." In other words,
"YOU HAVE MISSED IT!"
If you think you can be good enough to satisfy God's
requirements, if you think you can do enough good things
to make God happy, then you have missed the most important
thing. No one can do anything apart from Jesus. He is
The Vine. Nothing good comes from us unless it first comes
through Him. Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. You and
I cannot produce goodness; we cannot develop fruit apart
from being attached to Jesus.
I try to live by principles. Living by principles allows
one to determine actions, choose behavior, and make decisions
wisely and quickly in many different circumstances. A
set of principles that Jesus offered was "to love
the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul
and to love your neighbor as yourself."
In like manner, the prophet Micah offers us a set of
principles that produces the kind of goodness in us that
God is looking for. "...this is what [God] requires:
to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with your God."
DO WHAT IS RIGHT (To Live and Act Justly)
The context of Micah's message and a correct understanding
of right-ness leads us to three expressions of doing what
is right. Doing what is right spiritually, socially, and
relationally.
Do what is right spiritually. I believe many people live
the Christian life without being spiritually REAL. In
essence, what many are doing is living their Christianity
more by instinct than by the Truth revealed in the Word
of God and by the Spirit of God. Doing what is right is
not emotional! It is Biblical. We have lost our plumb
line. We no longer have a Biblical worldview. We have
become like those previous to the judgement of The Flood
who "did what was right in their own eyes."
The end result of doing what is right in our own eyes
is CHAOS. The delusion that happens is that we begin to
see that God exists more for us than the truth that we
exist for God. Doing what is right spiritually involves
having God's Word hidden in your heart, being filled with
the Spirit, and listening to your heart.
Do what is right socially. It appears that there were
some serious socio/political issues that Micah was confronting.
People were getting rich by cheating. Business people
were dishonest and the influential used extortion and
violence to expand their power. And for everyone else,
lying had become their native language and the only laws
they kept were those of a godless culture! (Micah 6:10-12;
16) I think America is on the same collision course that
Micah's contemporaries were on. Notice that Micah does
not confront the politicians or even the religious. Our
problem is not a political one but, rather, a cultural
one. Micah's indictment is against the country's citizens!
Perhaps many of your heard President
Obama's statement that "we are not a Christian
nation...[but] a nation of citizens." Putting that
through the filter of Micah's words, it appears that the
problem really is with us as citizens, not with politicians
or The White House. An article last week on Newsweek.com
entitled "The
End of Christian America" offers some interesting
reasons why America might be considered "post Christian."
In it, Cal Thomas, an early figure in the Moral Majority,
was quoted as saying, "No country can be truly 'Christian.'
Only people can. God is above all nations, and, in fact,
Isaiah says that 'All nations are to him a drop in the
bucket and less than nothing'." So, let's stop using
politics to attempt at making (or keeping) America as
a "Christian nation," and simply start doing
what is right!
Do what is right relationally. 3 John 1:11 (GWT) "Dear
friend, never imitate evil, but imitate good. The person
who does good is from God. The person who does evil has
never seen God." This always involves being other-centered.
We have so many opportunities everyday to do what is right
to others. Intimate relationships, like marriage, require
consistent grace and humility in order to consistently
do the right things.
Following are some areas I have identified in my own
life, as well as in other couples, in which we often fail
to do right:
