“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, 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? (Micah 6:6-8 ESV)
This world is filled with injustice. A drunk driver crosses the center line, hits another car head-on, taking the life of an unsuspecting teenager, and walks away from the wreck. Too many politicians enrich themselves in office and make legislation that does little more than running up the national debt and expanding the bureaucracy of the government. Abortion claims the lives of millions of unborn babies. Drugs and alcohol abuse and suicide claim the lives of far too many of our young people.
What does a person of faith in the holy, just God of the Bible do with all that? How do we live in the face of injustice? God spoke through His prophet, Micah, to call His people to reflect His holiness and justice in the way we live our lives.
First of all, living justly is not primarily about religious practices. Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? The rams and oil reflect the worship life of Israel, making sacrifices for sin. Worship and prayer and living in community with God's people, the church, are hugely important in our lives. If we participate fully and whole-heartedly, they form the foundation of a life of holy love that results in holiness - living a life that is filled with righteousness and not evil. But God is not pleased with religious practices alone. He requires more. He requires the living out of our faith in a way that reflects His holy and just character.
What does the Lord require of you? To do justice. To live justly. Doing what we can do to ease the suffering of the poor, the orphan and the widow are all Biblical themes of God's prophets and of the life of the church of Jesus Christ. Being part of the solution and not part of the problem of injustice is a huge starting point. Obviously followers of Jesus are called to live lives that are not filled with lying, cheating and stealing. We are called to have compassion on the least, the last and the lost. We are called to love others even as we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
In our world today there are competing world views of what is unjust and what to do about injustice. These competing visions have resulted in a lot of partisan politics which seek to win at any cost. Do we set ever higher minimum wages or allow the market to reward hard work? Do we use the power of the government to require that everyone drive an electric car, or invest in ever-cleaner use of fossil fuels while developing efficient, cost-effective alternative ways to generate electricity and power vehicles?
Wherever we land on justice issues and politics, the resounding call of God to "do justice" certainly means studying the issues and getting to know candidates, then voting our consciences. And it also means personally working to support organizations working for justice with the poor, the orphan and the widow.
What does the Lord require of you? To love kindness (mercy). In whatever ways we hear God calling us to stand up for justice, we can do so with compassion and kindness. I believe life begins at conception, and unborn babies are persons. (Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:13-16) But standing for life does not mean I vilify women who seek abortions or have had one. It does not mean I bomb abortion clinics. It more mercifully and kindly means I support a pregnancy resource center that gives women information and resources to make a different decision, and support adoption as a compassionate and just alternative.
What does the Lord require of you? To walk humbly with your God. I believe walking humbly with God means I continue learning from Scripture what God has revealed about His holy, loving, gracious nature and how that applies to the injustices in our world. I believe it means acknowledging the things I can do, and the things I cannot do.
I cannot end racism or feed all the hungry people in my county or end abortions. My congregation cannot somehow end injustices. But we can end racism in our own hearts and behaviors. We can feed the people God brings into our lives and cooperate with organizations that feed the hungry in our community to provide food for exponentially more people than we could ever do alone. We can partner with an organization like Gate Pregnancy Resource Center to give alternatives to abortion to women in crisis.
I believe walking humbly with our God means listening to His Word. It means forming our ethical, moral and political beliefs from Scripture and God's self-revelation as a God who is both just and merciful - both holy and loving. I believe as we immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit and in Scripture, God will direct our steps to show us how to "...do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." And then, God will give us the compassion and love and strength to live like that.
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