Three Empowering Virtues – Part Four
“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
The third virtue noted by the prophet Micah is “to walk humbly with God.”
“To walk humbly with your God” means to live in conscious fellowship with God.
It is to recognize God’s absolute holiness and submit to His will.
In Scripture the term “walk” often refers to a lifestyle. To be humble means to be respectfully obedient.
We do not have the overt threats because of walking humbly with God as some are having.
During the deep depression of the early 30s a panel of distinguished speakers was addressing a large audience from Chicago’s South Side consisting mostly of black persons. Clarence Darrow, the eminent attorney, a professed atheist, was one of the panelists.
Economic conditions were deplorable and jobs scarce. Darrow masterfully capitalized on this to depict the plight of the people and question God. He summed up their woes, concluding, “And yet you sing? No one can sing like you! What do you have to sing about?
Instantly a lady in the audience shouted, “We got Jesus to sing about!” Her response was followed by a chorus of “Amens” and “Yeses” and “That’s right.”
Darrow, uncharacteristically, was speechless. He had no response to people who can sing above their fears and tears because they walk with the one who strengthens them to do all things He wants them to do. That still works.
When Elizabeth married the ultimately famous poet Robert Browning her parents disowned her. She and Robert moved far away to Florence, Italy. She loved her parents and sought reconciliation. Several times a month she would write telling them of her love. After 10 years there came a response. She received a package from her parents which she opened with excitement. Elizabeth’s happy moment rapidly faded when she found inside all of her letters to her parents — unopened.
Elizabeth, like Robert, was a poet. Her letters of reconciliation have been called “some of the most beautiful and expressive in the English language.” Unfortunately her parents never read them.
Like Elizabeth, our Lord went to extreme measures to achieve reconciliation. Have you left His love letters unread? As Micah said God has shown us, it is in the Book, what is good. To find what is “good” read and obey His love letters. Accept His offer of reconciliation.
Come to the cross. It is an exhortation to “do justly.” it was sin, human kind”s injustice, that put Him there.
Come to the cross. It is an appeal to love mercy because of the mercy manifested there.
Come to the cross. It is empowering, enabling a walk with God.
Three Empowering Virtues – Part Three
“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
Three virtues are noted in the text. First, is “to do justly.” The second is “to love mercy.” The second is worth further attention.
On the beautiful Hawaiian Island of Molokai was a colony to which persons inflicted with the dreaded disease of leprosy were sent to live out their lives in misery.
A simple noble priest, Father Damien, went there to minister to them. He did so for months addressing them as: “You lepers.” He met with no response.
One day he spoke to them as, “My fellow lepers.”
He had so identified with them as to have contracted leprosy. Thereafter, his ministry met with a positive response. His mercy was their hearts. It so won the admiration of our nation that a statue of Father Damien stands as the only religious figure under the rotunda of our nation’s capital.
These persons stand in admirable contrast to the character depicted by George Bernard Shaw as: “a selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making him or her happy.”
With justice and mercy so closely linked in the text some persons often confuse the two. There are times when justice and mercy can be compatible.
When Fiorello La Guaridia was mayor of New York City he liked to keep in touch with all departments of government. He would even substitute for various heads. Once he sat in for the Night Court judge. It was a cold night and a trembling man was brought in charged with stealing a loaf of bread. He said he did it because his family was starving.
“I have to punish you nevertheless,” said La Guardia. “There is no exception to the law. The fine is $10.00.” As he said this he reached for his wallet, took out $10.00, put it in his famous hat and said, “Here is the $10.00 to pay the fine.”
“Furthermore,” he continued, “I’m going to fine everybody in this courtroom 50 cents for living in a city where a man has to steal bread in order to eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.” The total was $47.50.
In effect that is what our Heavenly Father did for us. We sin and He has found us guilty. In the person of His only begotten Son He paid the fine and remitted our sin when we trust Him as savior .
Because of that we are to live out Micah’s third virtue.
Three Empowering Virtues – Part Two
“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
Three virtues resonate in our text.
The first speaks of morality. We are “to do justly.” “To do justly” refers to our ethical response to other people. To “do justly” there must be a standard for what is just and what is unjust. Some conduct is right and some isn’t.
A new virile virus has been loosed in our culture under the guise of a new virtue. Because of its rapidly increasing influence it needs to be reexamined. It is called tolerance.
For generations people have espoused tolerance. The definition normally given is: “the disposition to be patient toward those whose opinions or practices differ from our own…”
That is now called “negative tolerance.”
Positive tolerance is defined as: “every single individual’s beliefs, values, lifestyle, and truth claims are equal.” That’s positive tolerance. It is broadly advocated.
If that is true then the door to the jail cell of the Unabomber, Ted Kazinski, should be opened and he set free. Timothy McVey, your beliefs that prompted a lifestyle that blew up the building in Oklahoma is acceptable. You can go free.
Positive tolerance has replaced the virtue of justice. Positive tolerance and justice cannot co-exist. They are mutually exclusive.
An advocate of positive tolerance defines for him or her self truth. One opinion is as good as another. Likewise one statement is as good as another. Such a person can state as true what facts reveal as not being true and still say, “I did not lie.” If there are no absolutes there is no truth and no falsehood. In the mind of such a person whatever they say is true.
This time in history is now being called the postmodern era. It is reshaping cultures’ concepts of truth. Lying is impossible since it presupposes objective reality. To the postmodern mind there is no objective truth. Truth is subject. That is, what I as the subject define it as. Such a person can say, “I did not tell him to lie” becomes a “true” statement because lies don’t exist. To such a mentality words don’t have a fixed meaning. They mean what the user wants them to mean at the moment. An interpretation may be different from an interpretation tomorrow.
God has expressed His desire for us: “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:6).
Our value-free, morally neutral, education opens the door for sources in Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and yes, Nashville to bombard young minds with thousands of hours of sounds and images that glamorize immorality and mock Biblical values.
Remember you are “to do justly” in your response to people.
Three Empowering Virtues – Part One
“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
A tree can be identified by the fruit it bears. So a true believer can be identified by the fruit he or she bears. The succulent fruit of justice, mercy, and humility are fruit born only by a child of the Lord.
Jesus spoke of “justice, mercy, and faith” and said of them we “ought to” do these things.
Visitors to our nation’s capital enjoy the beauty of the Library of Congress Building. In it are beautifully decorated alcoves providing reading rooms. The various alcoves are dedicated to different disciplines: art, history, science, philosophy, and religion. Each alcove has a distinctive design and motto. The committee responsible for choosing the motto for the religious alcove requested prominent ministers to make suggestions. The one chosen: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
When President Jimmy Carter took the oath of office as our nation’s leader he quoted the prophet Micah: “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).
At a time in the life of ancient Israel when moral depravity and religious decadence corrupted the people, God sent forth four prophets simultaneously to preach to His people.
Amos and Hosea were His heralds in the North.
Isaiah and Micah sounded forth the truth in the South.
Amos preached justice.
Hosea struck the note of love.
Isaiah called for reverent, humble fellowship with God.
Micah gathered the gist of all three and summarily said, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, To love mercy, and walk humble with your God?” (6:8).
Three virtues are mentioned in our text that are described by God as “good.” It should also be noted they are required of us by God. Jesus confirmed this when He said of them we “ought to” do them, meaning it is good for us to do them.
Start today to practice the three one at a time. Following are four more posts on the three.
Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part Three
Romans 7: 22 – 25
To develop a Biblical worldview you have to view the world through the Bible. Too many of us are like the report given by Brit Hume, ABC White House correspondent, on our President’s trip to South Korea: “He was the very picture of an engaged commander-in-chief standing with his men on an outpost watchtower to gaze at the enemy territory just across the way. Whoops! Those field glasses do work better with the lens cap off.”
Preset your mind set. All of us do without realizing it. Most often it is done unconsciously. For example, are you an optimist or a pessimist? How did you get that way? Likely you evolved into it.
The brain is sophisticated and complex. Here is an elemental insight. Negative thoughts produce certain chemicals in the brain. Positive thoughts produce other chemicals. In turn these chemicals tend to attract thoughts that produce them. Therefore, if you have been thinking negatively, you have a negative chemical flow. This causes more negative thoughts. If you have been thinking positively, you have a positive chemical flow and will tend to continue to think positively. You have a preset mindset.
The matter of doing the right and not doing the wrong comes down to mind over matter. “So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7: 25)
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Is this a time when our Lord would have you reset your mindset? It takes conscious practice. Start with these. Resolve:
I WILL BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT I HAVE.
Without stopping to appreciate what you have, you tend to devalue it. All of us have things for which to be grateful.
Our text says “I delight in the law of God” (Romans 7: 22). Learn to get pleasure from God’s way of seeing things.
Resolve: “I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 25).
I WILL BE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT EVERYTHING I DO.
If you consider every activity a positive adventure, it takes on new meaning and inspires others.
I WILL MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE AND CONSCIOUSLY SEEK TO APPLY IT.
Pre-program your mind on the Word of God. This can enable the development of a Biblical worldview.
I WILL PREMEDITATEDLY SUBMIT MY THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS TO JESUS AS LORD DAILY.
To be right, and do right, think right.