What is Good?

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (NRSV)

The world these days seems intent on blurring the line between good and evil, have you noticed? And it’s easy for us, for you and for me, to get swept up in that. So … reality check. What exactly is good?

Back when I was a lad, my father, in particular, made it his business to instil a strong sense of right and wrong in me. Sometimes that involved his belt connecting rather sharply with my bottom. And whilst that’s not necessarily an approach that I’d advocate today, his “don’t spare the rod and spoil the child” approach had a powerful effect on me.

But here in the 21st century, we do tend to spoil children rather more than we used to … and so there are whole generations growing up who don’t have that same sense of right and wrong. More’s the pity.

So, if I were to ask you to tell me in a nutshell what it means to do good, how would you respond? While you’re pondering that question, here’s God’s response:

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (NRSV)

It’s pretty simple really. “Doing good” means to do justice, not to demand justice – to make sure we deal fairly with everyone, whether we like them or not. It means to love kindness – not just to be kind, but to be passionate about being kind. And it means to walk in humility with God – to honour Him, to obey Him, to yearn to know His will and to do it. 

That’s what it means to do good. 

And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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Griffin

Excellent Message

Excellent Message