“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, NKJV).

The Lord requires things of us, if the Bible is true. We don’t have an ethereal faith; it’s a real faith that shows itself in works. And what does the Lord require of us? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. To do justly, is to make the right choice. A just verdict is when the right thing is done in a case. Doing justly is knowing the right thing to do and doing it. That’s why justice and righteousness are interchangeable, literally the same word in Hebrew.

God requires you do the right thing. We need to know the right thing before we can do the right thing, but as we are learning God’s Word and His ways, we walk by what we know. We do what’s right the best we know and God delights in that.

We’re required to show mercy. That’s that chesed word also translated as kindness or lovingkindness or steadfast love. We love mercy because we’ve been shown great mercy. We show mercy because we’ve been shown great mercy! Blessed are the merciful because God will show them mercy. We show mercy because we’ve received mercy, and we receive mercy because we show mercy.

God requires you to walk humbly with your God. We need to live with a right view of God and ourselves. He’s big. We’re nothing. He’s good. We’re not. He’s able. We’re unable. He’s all powerful. We’re weaklings. And on and on. We can’t do all things. Christ in us can do all things. There is no good thing in us, apart from all the goodness of God dwelling in us. The Christian life is not easy, but it’s very simple: love God–love others.