New Beginnings

3 Simple Things

I serve an awesome God, though!  And, He blessed me in many ways today despite the fact that I let Him down by not having my morning quiet time alone with Him.   Afterall, we just celebrated Christmas and I wanted to "give back" to Jesus for the sacrafice He made by coming to Earth to save us.

On my lunch break, I grabbed my Bible.  I had been praying earlier telling God that I really wanted to live in His Will and not "fight Him" to do it my way.  I was pondering just what it was He wanted me to do.  I had prayed as I walked into work that all of my interactions would be "intentional" and that I would not miss an opportunity to serve Him.  Despite all of that, I just had that nagging feeling that I wasn't in tune with God.  I kept having that thought of..."what is it that You want me to do?"  "How can I serve You here at work and in my regular day-to-day activities?" 

So, with my Bible in my hands, I ran my fingers across the end of the pages and prayed that God would lead me to the perfect scripture based on what I needed to hear today.  I know many people feel that was a ridiculous way to choose what to read, but it had worked for me so many times before, I felt that it would again. 

I opened my Bible to Micah, Chapter 6.  As you have already guessed, it was the perfect passage.  The scripture speaks of all the things God has done for Israel (also meaning all of us) and how they have not been grateful and have turned to sin.

The passage asks what could we do to please God and gives examples: Sacrafice burnt offerings?  Offer thousands of rams with 10 thousand rivers of oil?  Offer firstborn child?     

The answer was none of those things.  The verse that stood out was this:

He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humby with your God.   Micah 6:8

Sometimes as Christians, we get discouraged when we cannot do that one "big thing" for God.  We know we don't deserve His goodness or His grace but we want to try and earn it or pay Him back in some way.  And the truth is, we can't.  The price He paid was way too much.  Yet, He only asked for 3 fairly simple things: .

1.  that we act justly (that we be fair, honest and giving)

2.  that we love mercy (in my opinion, mercy is having compassion and helping others even when they don't deserve it or won't be grateful or when it comes with a cost to you.  He asked not just that we have mercy but that we love it--do it without regret, hesitation or motive.  This makes me think about not wanting to help a panhandler because you just know he spent all of his money on drugs or alcohol.  Maybe he did, but what would Jesus do in that situation?  He'd have mercy.  Thank goodness Jesus has mercy for us every day!)

3.  that we walk humbly with Him. (I personally struggle with the humbly part sometimes!  It is difficult to truly walk with HIm when pride is present.  I think that is why the scripture makes it a point to say walk humbly with Him and not just walk with Him.)     

This scripture fit hand-in-hand with a theme that has been recurrent in several differnet things I have read and heard lately about our "purpose".   Our purpose is to love God, praise Him, learn to be more like Him and to love and minister to others.   How we go about that will be different for each person depending on our passions, gifts and talents--but it all sort of fits into the 3 things God REQUIRES of us in the above scripture.

I found some peace in Micah 6:8.  For the moment, I just need to focus on those 3 things and to stop feeling like I am missing something that I am supposed to be doing.   As long as I am walking with Him, I'll walk right into that "thing" when the time is right! 

I have to share what our pastor said about Christmas/the birth of Christ.  I've never heard it said more beautifully.........  "Jesus looked down and saw a scared, fragile and tormented world.  So, He got down on His knees and joined us. He cuddled up beside us in a manger giving HImself as the ultimate sacrafice and the world has never been the same."  Thank You, Jesus. 

Update on Victoria Faith:  Thanks again for all of your prayers.  We've had some little ups and downs but Faith is doing GREAT!  The feeding tube is out and she is taking a bottle!  Her organs are functioning fine and she now weighs a full 6 pounds!  She may get to come home THIS WEEK!  Praise the Lord!!!!  Her parents and grandparents have been suffering with repeat staph infections so please continue to pray for this family.  Pray with me that the staph will not recur and that baby Faith will come home to a safe staph-free environment!       

Hey,

9:51 AM, Jan. 1, 2008 .. Posted by dixiefiddler

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Luv ya!
Sarah