O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6: 8
It surprises me how unappreciated the old testament is. I know we worship newness and don’t respect “old.” It’s just not right. The old testament is full of wisdom.
Justice, Mercy and Humility. If we could just grasp and apply these principles in life.
Justice. It is so easy to let injustice to prevail. Why should we attach more value to sports figures than teachers? Why do we ignore the rich are much more likely to receive justice in our courts than the poor? We don’t value life in those least able to protect themselves, the unborn and the elderly. Those are universal problems, but we don’t do any better at doing “right” at a personal level. We often don’t really know what is just.
Mercy. Mercy is something we expect but are reluctant to give. It was the subject of Jesus’ parables. We want justice for others and mercy for ourselves. Offenses pain us and we are reluctant to forgive that offense. What is really silly is that we suffer more from our refusal to be merciful than our offender ever will.
Humility. We love to claim credit for good and find blame for bad. My favorite example is that when “our” team wins we say, “We won.” When they lose, we exclaim, “They loss.” It would be an enlightening study to consider what “good” we are actually responsible for, as well as what “bad” we have caused.
Justice, Mercy and Humility were ideals in the old testament. They are achievable states for new testament people. We met these attributes face-to-face in Jesus. He took the just punishment so that we might receive mercy and He did so as a man, obedient to the Father unto painful death.
We can be just, merciful and humble. We need only to look to Jesus for example and to his grace for empowerment.
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