A “popular” scripture I see on wall art in stores an awful lot is Micah 6:8.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8 (NIV)
I love this verse, and it would make my heart soar to see every Jesus lover across this globe, living this verse, myself included.
It is so hard, though. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
When we break it down, I see just how many ways I fail my Heavenly Father, my Papa.
Bob Goff says we should be rivers not reservoirs with our love. That we shouldn’t bottle it up inside, but share it.
You and I are going to be challenged in the coming days, weeks and months, regarding our faith.
Democrats and Republicans are all aghast at just how quickly the Taliban seized Afghanistan. There are children, women, families running through my mind, constantly. The children, teachers and families now displaced that Love Does (organization) helps have kept me awake at night. There but for the grace of God go I. Because I was born in America.
I’m free.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I know there are going to be countless refugees who will need help.
God has shown us what is good. And what does He require of us? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
I’m not one of those “conservative Christians” who is all for shutting our borders. In fact, I consider myself to be of the conservative, patriotic type who agrees with the poem on The Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (Emma Lazarus)
I can’t get the faces of those children out of my mind. I can’t stop crying when I imagine the mothers, desperate to protect their children … especially the daughters they must fear will be taken, raped, and murdered.
There but for the grace of God go I. Because Michala was also born in America.
And when I picture those people, so desperately yearning for safety, I can’t help but imagine Jesus standing before me, reminding me, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” - Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
What we do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters … we do for Jesus.
I don’t want to see us in an endless war. That doesn’t mean we, the church, can just get up and walk away from them, either.
In the coming days, weeks, months, our elected officials will be faced with opportunities to accept refugees. What will we, the church, do to help? Will we turn our backs on them and say, “This is MY country! America first!”?
Or will we dare to show love in the face of fear, and say, “What I do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters … I do for Jesus.”
We will be challenged in our faith. And if our hearts are so broken for the people of Afghanistan, when the opportunity arises for us to stand with Lady Liberty, we, too, can say, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
It will soon be time for us, the church, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our Lord. And when we are the given the opportunity to help those in need, what we do for one of the least of them … we do for Jesus.