Devotion: Generation Greatness
He has told you, O mortal, 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 6:8
As I am writing this, I am looking out to my backyard. I live next to a cemetery, yup, a cemetery. This gives me lots of moments to think about death, but mostly life. Each day is a gift because I am not across the road yet! And how am I supposed to live this gift I’ve been given? Today’s scripture tells me exactly how….do justice, love kindness and most importantly, walk humbly with my God. I changed the punctuation on that last phrase from a question mark to a period because I believe it is a command not a choice. There are 3 parts to the last verse I will consider.
Walking… it is an action verb. It does not mean I should quietly sit and relax. It means I should get out there in the world and do something that makes it better. Lots of people, surprisingly, walk in the cemetery. Not many runners. It is a place to take your time and contemplate. It is quiet. Life is not a race or a competition. Life is a daily-one foot in front of the other-journey. And are you to honk your horn when you pass someone? No! Which leads me to my next point… humbleness.
I checked my Concordance and humble/humility is mentioned more that 18 times in the Bible! Do you think God is trying to tell us something? Again, I’m looking out at ‘my’ cemetery and I notice there are very few upright granite tombstones. Most souls have a simple marker with names and dates. God knows these souls by what justice, what kindness was done. They don’t need a loudspeaker proclaiming to the world what they have done. Their families might know, their churches might know, but God certainly knows! Being humble means letting you works speak for you, doing good because it is the right thing to do, and serving the Lord.
“With my God” is probably the most important part of these instructions. If God is for us, who can be against us?(Romans 8:31) Keeping God in our lives is the toughest part in our days. There are so many temptations, so many other gods trying to take our time and attention. Life is about choices. God is giving you instructions. Proverbs 15:33 says- The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom and humility goes before honor.
Lord, thank you for the gift of each day. Let me walk humbly in your presence each day. Lead me to follow your instructions to live a just and kind life. Amen
Written by Cindy Swanson.