What is Good

“You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

In the NIV, this reads, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” This is what God requires of us. I heard a preacher tell a true story about a very wealthy man who was miserable. The preacher was able to spend much time with the man because they were on a yacht in the Mediterranean, invited by a common friend. The man said that he and his wife were having problems and he pleaded with his wife to come back and they will fix things. She asked him to give her six months to think about it. He agreed. After six months, he asked her what her decision was and she said she needed three more months. He continued to wait. After three months, she decided that no, she wasn’t going to return. She said she was so tired of all his conditions, she just couldn’t do it. The preacher then continued to listen to all this man’s woes, and the man finally said the problem with following Jesus is there are all sorts of conditions. 

“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” the preacher stopped him. “You are complaining about your wife not coming back to you because you had so many conditions, and now you’re saying you cannot accept Jesus because He has conditions?” The man realized his foolishness and cried. The preacher was able to lead him to prayer and accepting Jesus. 

In a relationship, especially a good relationship, there are always conditions. The moral law governs how we are to act with God and our brothers and sisters. There’s this little movie about the “The Secret of the Stone Tablets”. In it, a young boy was playing archaeologist in search of the Ten Commandments. The problem was while he was looking for these “rules”, he disobeyed his dad, skipped school, lied and even betrayed his good friend. Near the ending when he gets found out, he confessed to his father that he did not know what was wrong with him. “I want to do what is right, but I just can’t! I end up lying to you and disobeying you! What’s the matter with me?”

The young boy was told by his father what we, like St. Paul discovered. We all want to do what is right, to love goodness, and walk humbly with our God, but we can never obey God’s laws perfectly. The only one who can change our stony hearts is God. “I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you,” God promised through the prophet Ezekiel. “I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command" (36:26-27 NLT).

Thank You, Father, for Your promise! You are our hope and consolation!