He Has Shown You What Is Good

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 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 6:6-8

As we approach the New Year, and look back as another year as gone past, many people are still in search of where they will find peace. The amazing birth of our Savior, as depicted in the Bible was to assure people everywhere the good news that the promised Messiah, as prophesied has come.  And from our text above we see God ‘s attempt to reconcile Israel to Him. The Lord made a covenant with Israel and when the commandments were written and placed in the ark of the covenant to be a permanent witness to them. This was the Lord’s appeal with tenderness and emotion, the divine Plaintiff recalled His many gracious acts toward them, noting  their bondage in Egypt, and their release from there by Him (v.v.3-4). And now Micah, as though speaking on behalf of the people, asked rhetorically how, in light of God’s faithfulness toward them, they could continue their hypocrisy by being outwardly religious but inwardly sinfully corrupt? Micah’s terse response (v.8) indicated they should have known the answer to the rhetorical question. Spiritual blindness had led them to offer everything except the one thing God wanted—a spiritual commitment of the heart from which right behavior would ensue. When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisee’s, one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law?” Jesus said to him, ” ‘ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commanment. And the second is like it: ‘ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”(Matthew 22:36-39) All of this describes for us the completeness of the kind of love that is called for us to love Him.

Beloved friend, You nor I don’t have this kind of love in us. And God knows this. No sacrifice even if it were our firstborn would ever appease a holy and righteous and perfect God, as such as we have today. But the Good News for all of mankind is that God has done something about this. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.(John 3:16) Christ in Our Place—For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:6-10) Jesus has conquered the grave! Giving everyone hope of eternal life with Him. We should be a people with so much hope and joy and peace as we step into the New Year, and look ahead to what this New Year may bring. Part of that should be noted  will mean more suffering. For this world is ready for judgment, yet, for you and I, this is our platform for which we should tell others of the hope that is found in Jesus Christ! Christ has made a way for which we can walk humbly with the Lord our God, by empowering us through His Holy Spirit that dwells in every believer’s heart, now we can too love what He loves;  mercy and truth.

May the Lord bless your walk into the New Year!

Happy Birthday! J.E.T.

Author: rontrujillo

Married 37 years We have six children. All of whom are adult. Three are married one of them blessed us with three beautiful grandchildren. Retired Firefighter @ Boeing Aircraft 37 years (Formally McDonnell Douglas) Born Again Summer of 1981 View all posts by rontrujillo