Micah Got It Right!

Back in the day when the fad at camp was to sing “Scripture Choruses,” (not a bad fad by the way) one that I especially remember was Micah 6:8. “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.?” (ESV)

The stunning absence in our culture of those basic expectations from God is all the proof we need to realize just how right Micah was. While it would be as easy as taking candy from babies to point to the current presidential campaign and highlight examples of the absence of justice, kindness, and humility – I’m not sure that would be all that worthwhile. I hate to be a cynic, but honestly, do we really expect a person who makes it to that level in the political reality of our world to be just, kind, or humble?

A part of my personal Bible reading for today was Psalm 82. In Tim Keller’s (along with his wife Kathy) The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms, I found this prayer for readers of Psalm 82:

                        Lord, because I live in a relatively comfortable and safe

                        part of the world and society, I am not as sensitive to the

                        needs of the week as you are. Help me to hate the injustice

                       hate and love the poor and needy whom you love.  Amen.  

It is in that “comfortable and safe part of the world and society” where I can quickly forget issues of justice, kindness, and humility. Even as a Christian. Even as a husband and father. Even as an employee of a Christ-centered kingdom mission. Even in the church. I would be shocked if any of the candidates for president read Psalm 82 today. Probably even more shocked if its words convicted their hearts. But that is such an easy rabbit trail to run down, all the while missing how convicting these words are to my heart.

Justice. That’s a huge word not only in our culture, but in Scripture itself. But I think I am on pretty solid ground when I say that in Scripture, justice is deeply connected to God’s concern for the weak, the poor, for orphans, and for widows. Oppressed people break His heart. 

Kindness. Kindness might be as simple as treating people respectfully. It means refusing to associate value with function and assuming that as children of God we are all of great value – Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Kindness means I operate from the point of view of God’s fellow workers, exercising my gifts in a way that glorifies God not self. 

Humbly. Learning to manage a kind of healthy self-esteem with humility is more than merely challenging. Paul can say “I served with all humility” while in Ephesus (Acts 20:29), and in words written close to the same time say “I was not inferior to those super-apostles,” to the Corinthians. (2 Corinthians 12:11) Perhaps “humble” or “humility” is recognizing our giftedness and using it to the glory of God and not self. And if that is true, it will have huge impact on how I treat those around me – especially those who aren’t at my level in the pecking order of life. 

Justice, kindness, and walking humbly are important words for those who seek to honor God in their lives. That has implications for how men treat women. It has implications for how managers treat employees. It has implications for how middle class people treat poor people. How pastors treat church members – and maybe even for how church members treat pastors! It even has implications for how believers treat non-believers. 

I’ve been thinking for over a week now about the awful, unjust, unkind, non-humble behavior of the guy in Orlando who just decided to kill as many people as he could. I’ve written a half-dozen blog posts in my head and even a few on paper – none of which has or will see the light of day. They won’t see the light of day not because they reflect some heretical idea or weren’t sensitive to the situation. 

They won’t see the light of day because it is so easy – in our quick condemnation of that kind of behavior, as deserving as it is of condemnation – to forget that actually God has called me – as a follower of Jesus, a husband and father, son, brother, employee of Point University, friend, and whatever other relationships that might exist – to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.

I can do that for the victims of the Orlando tragedy without breaking a sweat - at least at some level. Consistently doing that in my daily walk is a bit more challenging. With Tim Keller I’m going to pray “Help me to hate the injustice you hate and love the poor and needy whom you love.” 

The truth is, that “injustice” or those “poor and needy” might be just around the corner from where I’m sitting right now.