Justice and Kindness

Micah 6 has a startling passage: "With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sins of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the  LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:6-8; italics added).

We think perhaps to buy off God with offerings contemporaneous to these days. We may not bring burnt offerings, animals, oil, children, but what do we offer for our rebellious acts and for the sins of our souls?

When we are told what we are to do is justice, what we are to love is kindness, and what we are to do is walk humbly with out God, we are asked to do what is not in our nature to do.

We want justice leveled on our enemies, not kindness. And walking humbly? Please. This is not in our human DNA.

Sin being in our spiritual DNA means we have to have a changed nature, not merely a changed external wardrobe; a new heart, not merely a new behavior. And we can change neither because we are spiritually dead; read Ephesians 2.

Those who chafe at God's decision that salvation should be gained through only one way ought to remember also that He is not obligated to save anyone. It is only because He chooses to save any that salvation is even available.

For  those who chafe at the idea that we are not free choosers, remember that unless His grace frees us in that one way He has made, we will spend both this life and the life to come enslaved to Satan, under whose bonds we were born. He is the present prince of the power of the air, who often presents himself as an angel of light when he is no such thing, and he can do only what God permits and approves (see Job chapters 1 and 2).

Oh that you who chafe at the way of salvation would see the cost of it borne by the Holy Lord of all that it might be accomplished according to the Father's good pleasure. Chafe not but plead to know such grace, such saving grace, such costly grace.

To do justice as God defines it, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God requires a totally new nature. And this God gives us, along with a new heart, when we are redeemed.

Acts 4:12--"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Romans 10:13--"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

2 Corinthians 5:17--"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 6:1-2--"Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Psalm 32:1-5--"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD'; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah."

After that initial forgiveness, comes sanctification, the subject of next week's post.