Girl Scouts are busy out there selling cookies right now. We all know this is an annual fund-raiser for the Girl Scouts. And we all know how good these cookies are. I’m looking at a half-eaten box of Thin Mints (my favorite) as I write this. How can anything that tastes so delicious have all those unsavory ingredients that are listed on the label? Such things as thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, and cocoa processed with alkali! Yuck! There’s got to be a lesson in that somewhere.
Perhaps we learn that for anything to be really “good” it must also have some elements that aren’t so good. Like marriage, for example. For there to be a really good marriage, there must be a testing time that brings out the worst in each partner so it can be dealt with so only the good remains. That takes a process of time and involves some yucky stuff, but, boy, is it worth it in the end! Hang in there; it gets better.
Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”.
These are three interesting requirements. 1) We are to do justly. Justice is what is deserved. Justice honors the Law. If I deserve it, I can demand it. It is owed to me. I am to live my life sowing seeds because I can expect to reap what I sow.
2) We are also required to love mercy. Mercy is the opposite of justice. Mercy is when I get what I don’t deserve. Mercy is when I find grace because I deserved justice. I am to do justly, while I am to love mercy. How do we reconcile these two opposite concepts?
3) We are to walk humbly with our God. To walk humbly is to recognize that we are nothing in ourselves. It is to remain open as vessels that God can use in any manner He chooses. I am to act justly, while demonstrating mercy to others, so I can be a humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things the Lord requires of us.