TWO STEPS TO JUST LIVING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Deuteronomy 16:18-20

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

From the time I began attending school as a first-grader, I can remember beginning each day by standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The words that echoed off my classroom walls back in the mid-60’s still resonate in many school classrooms today:

I pledge allegiance to the flag

Of the United States of America

And to the republic for which it stands

One nation, under God, indivisible

With liberty and justice for all

In the United States, we are, for the most part, a people concerned about justice and fair treatment for all. I would like to think that this is because we proclaim ourselves as being “one nation under God” (because it’s the truth) and we are concerned about justice because He was and is. In fact, we place a premium on fairness, not because we have developed such a moral construct but because He has instilled it within us. As with all things, He is the source and therefore the One worthy of the honor and glory.

As we turn to today’s passage and our continuing study of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, we see our Lord speaking on this matter, reading where the people of Israel were expected to “appoint judges and officials for each of (their) tribes in every town the Lord your God (was) giving (them)”. These appointed judges were expected to “judge the people fairly”, not “pervert justice or show partiality” or “accept a bribe” which would serve to “blind the eyes of the wise and twist the words of the righteous.” The reward for fulfilling these expectations would be that Israel would be able to “live and possess the land the Lord…(was) giving (them)”.

The point is this.

God expects justice to be done by all. Period. And this means that everyone is to do the right and righteous thing at all times to include acting justly. The prophet Micah gave us some tips to ensure we meet this requirement. Let’s call them two steps to just living. He said:

“…what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

It’s within this single verse that we find the following two steps we need to take:

First, we need to walk humbly with God.

What does it mean to be humble?

In a nutshell, we’re to be compliant and obedient, meek, respectful, polite, deferential, courteous, and well-mannered. We aren’t to carry ourselves around as rude or arrogant or better than others. Rather, we’re to treat everyone with kindness and equality, ever displaying the grace that we receive from our Lord.

Indeed, we need to embody all these things but we won’t ever reach the goal of humility if we don’t first walk with God for He, and only He, will keep us grounded and away from falling into sinful pride.

It’s Him, and only Him, who can and will teach us to do step number 2: Love mercy.

For once we’re walking in humility by first walking with our God, we will come to love mercy.

Why?

Because we’re connected to the God who loves mercy. He embodies it to perfection.

And so by humbling ourselves, allowing the Lord’s desires to be our own, there is no doubt that we will find ourselves showing compassion, forgiveness, kindness, empathy, and understanding to others. We will have sincere concern and consideration for people, able to sympathize with those who are going through difficulties.

In other words, we will live lives that exude mercy and do so because we are committed to a God who loves it.

Our Lord expects us to walk humbly with Him and love mercy…and when we do both to the measure that He commands, then we will live justly as He expects.

My prayer is that we all learn and embrace these two steps to just living, putting them into practice in our lives.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.