"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 This has to be my verse I go to when I know I need to take a look at my attitude. This verse just isn't speaking of worship, but our attitude in doing so. We see three words here, justly, mercy and humbly, take a look at the meanings of these words with me as Mr. Webster shows us. JUST: having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason; reasonable. archaic: faithful to an original. conforming to a standard of correctness: proper. acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good: righteous. being what is merited: deserved. legally correct: lawful Mercy: price paid, wages. compassion or forbearance shown to an offender or to one subject to one's power: lenient or compassionate treatment. imprisionment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder. a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion. a fortunate circumstance. compassionate treatment of those in destress. Humble: not proud or haughty. not arrogant or assertive. reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission. ranking low in a hierarchy or scale: insignificant, unpretentious. not costly ot luxurious. to make humble in spirit or manner. to destroy the power, independence, or prestige of. To look at these words and to see the meanings before us, we can see how God wants us to walk. For this is how He walked, so why would He ask any less of us? As christians we so want to share Christ with others, we want to share the gospel, but if we are not walking humbly, with mercy, and walking justly how then can we show what love is, and Jesus is love? So without love we cannot show who Jesus is and without these character traits, these virtues, we are not walking in Christ. For us to others who Jesus really is, they need to see Him in us, if they cannot see a difference in us, they aren't going to want any part of what we are sharing with them. In our walk we can either point people to Jesus or turn them away, and many times we too often turn them away when we ourselves cannot even walk justly, mercy and to show ourselves humble before God. In our flesh we can become so puffed up with pride which is the opposite of humble. Too many times we have to prove ourselves right and try to bring justice to others, but that is not our place. It is our place to love and forgive, for but by the grace of God there go I. When we see others fall, there are times we are glad for their fall, but that is wrong, for we should be in prayer for them, we should be lifting them up, for we can fall just as easily. And for mercy, when was the last time we showed mercy to another, but wanting it for ourselves? We too often forget we are sinners in need of a Savior. There is not one of us who walks greater than the other, there isn't one of us whose wealth, whose job, whose house, whose car, whose family name makes us better than anyone else. There is only One who stands greater than us and that is Jesus Christ Himself. If we cannot love ourselves as Jesus does, how than are we to love others? We should be willing to give what we have away to others who have nothing, to share a meal with someone who has nothing, to lift up our brother or sister in Christ instead of tearing them apart. We tend to speak with our words instead of our actions, Christianity is a verb, just as love is. Both of these words are putting action forth. Life is not about taking and seeing how far we can get while our brother is hurting, its about giving, and giving all we have for those who have nothing. Its serving, its showing others compassion, mercy and grace. God showed all of these to us when He died on the cross, when His blood was shed for us, for us sinners in need. When we are walking with Christ we are going to let His Spirit shine before us. Too many times people place themselves above others, they place others outside their circle, they whisper, they look and they keep you at bay. We all fall into the traps of our flesh, this is why we must look into the mirror, we must see the truth instead of believing the lies. We must strip ourselves of our pride, of our arrogance, and become humble before God. This verse is one that shows us simply how to walk. So how is your walk today? As I, do you too need to check yourself at the door before Jesus, before we enter His throne? For all that Jesus was willing to do for us, He took our place, we too should be willing to offer ourselves for the glory of God so others can clearly see who He is through those of us that call ourselves christians. When we stand for Christ, we should humbly stand before Him, there isn't anything we have to boast about. For all we have are gifts from our Father in heaven. With Christ we can walk in the way that He is calling, with faith in Him, leaving behind ourselves and following Him wherever He calls us to go~
Saturday, October 31, 2009
walk the talk
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 This has to be my verse I go to when I know I need to take a look at my attitude. This verse just isn't speaking of worship, but our attitude in doing so. We see three words here, justly, mercy and humbly, take a look at the meanings of these words with me as Mr. Webster shows us. JUST: having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason; reasonable. archaic: faithful to an original. conforming to a standard of correctness: proper. acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good: righteous. being what is merited: deserved. legally correct: lawful Mercy: price paid, wages. compassion or forbearance shown to an offender or to one subject to one's power: lenient or compassionate treatment. imprisionment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder. a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion. a fortunate circumstance. compassionate treatment of those in destress. Humble: not proud or haughty. not arrogant or assertive. reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission. ranking low in a hierarchy or scale: insignificant, unpretentious. not costly ot luxurious. to make humble in spirit or manner. to destroy the power, independence, or prestige of. To look at these words and to see the meanings before us, we can see how God wants us to walk. For this is how He walked, so why would He ask any less of us? As christians we so want to share Christ with others, we want to share the gospel, but if we are not walking humbly, with mercy, and walking justly how then can we show what love is, and Jesus is love? So without love we cannot show who Jesus is and without these character traits, these virtues, we are not walking in Christ. For us to others who Jesus really is, they need to see Him in us, if they cannot see a difference in us, they aren't going to want any part of what we are sharing with them. In our walk we can either point people to Jesus or turn them away, and many times we too often turn them away when we ourselves cannot even walk justly, mercy and to show ourselves humble before God. In our flesh we can become so puffed up with pride which is the opposite of humble. Too many times we have to prove ourselves right and try to bring justice to others, but that is not our place. It is our place to love and forgive, for but by the grace of God there go I. When we see others fall, there are times we are glad for their fall, but that is wrong, for we should be in prayer for them, we should be lifting them up, for we can fall just as easily. And for mercy, when was the last time we showed mercy to another, but wanting it for ourselves? We too often forget we are sinners in need of a Savior. There is not one of us who walks greater than the other, there isn't one of us whose wealth, whose job, whose house, whose car, whose family name makes us better than anyone else. There is only One who stands greater than us and that is Jesus Christ Himself. If we cannot love ourselves as Jesus does, how than are we to love others? We should be willing to give what we have away to others who have nothing, to share a meal with someone who has nothing, to lift up our brother or sister in Christ instead of tearing them apart. We tend to speak with our words instead of our actions, Christianity is a verb, just as love is. Both of these words are putting action forth. Life is not about taking and seeing how far we can get while our brother is hurting, its about giving, and giving all we have for those who have nothing. Its serving, its showing others compassion, mercy and grace. God showed all of these to us when He died on the cross, when His blood was shed for us, for us sinners in need. When we are walking with Christ we are going to let His Spirit shine before us. Too many times people place themselves above others, they place others outside their circle, they whisper, they look and they keep you at bay. We all fall into the traps of our flesh, this is why we must look into the mirror, we must see the truth instead of believing the lies. We must strip ourselves of our pride, of our arrogance, and become humble before God. This verse is one that shows us simply how to walk. So how is your walk today? As I, do you too need to check yourself at the door before Jesus, before we enter His throne? For all that Jesus was willing to do for us, He took our place, we too should be willing to offer ourselves for the glory of God so others can clearly see who He is through those of us that call ourselves christians. When we stand for Christ, we should humbly stand before Him, there isn't anything we have to boast about. For all we have are gifts from our Father in heaven. With Christ we can walk in the way that He is calling, with faith in Him, leaving behind ourselves and following Him wherever He calls us to go~
