The Lord's Requirements

Have you ever been given the opportunity to meet someone famous? Maybe you bumped into them, met them through a strange set of circumstances, or simply paid tons of money to shake their hand. If you knew you were going to meet that famous person, you probably spent a good amount of time planning what you were going to say and how you were going to act around them. Something about that person that is so special to you for some reason is awe inspiring to the point you don’t know how to react when you are in their presence.

As Christians, we often act the same way in the presence of God. Sometimes, we don’t really know how to act around him. What we’re supposed to say or how we’re supposed to act. We make sure we look acceptable on the outside. We tell God about all the great things we have done this week. We make excuses about the bad things that we have done and submit a half-hearted apology. We ask God what he wants us to do – if he wants us to pray more, or give more money, volunteer more time, or read our bible more. Whether or not we genuinely want to please God, we think it is these types of things that will impress him when we are face to face with him.

The Old Testament prophet Micah addresses this very issue:

 

What should I bring before the Lord
 when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before Him with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams 
or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the child of my body for my own sin?

            - Micah 6:6-7

By asking these questions, Micah is shedding light on the beliefs of the people at the time. They thought that all God wanted was their sacrifices and rituals. In other words, in order to please God, they had to make sacrifices and offerings of immeasurable quantities. But then Micah says this:

Mankind, He has told you what is good
 and what it is the Lord requires of you: 
to act justly, 
to love faithfulness, 
and to walk humbly with your God.

-       Micah 6:8

Micah is saying, “Listen everyone, it isn’t your sacrifices that God is interested in. Your sacrifices will never be enough. What God really wants from you is to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with God.” So what does God really want from us today? Are praying more, giving more money, serving more, and reading our bible more all good things? Of course! Is it a good thing that we want to please God? It's a GREAT thing! But at the core of everything, God is interested in the way we live and walk with him. He wants us to act justly – to serve the needy and love the poor. He wants us to love faithfulness – to stay focused on Him and the message of hope. And he wants us to walk humbly with himself – to acknowledge our lowly and sinful position and to seek holiness and sanctification through daily walking with him. God doesn’t want us to try to impress him – he wants us to know who we are, who he is, and what it means to truly love him.