My wife and I recently bought a shed to make into my office – she wants me out of the house. 😉
We had ordered a custom version. Nothing wild. We just asked for a standard door, four extra feet for the length, and two extra windows. No problem!
Well, as so often happens, there was a mixup with our order. As I talked through the problem with the shed company’s sales guy, he bumped up to an office guy, who then bumped me to receive a call from the district manager.
Not to take anything away from the shed company but less than an hour before my conversation with the district manager, a dear brother that I’d not heard from for at least six months texted me and said God put me in his thoughts, so he wanted to check and see if I needed anything. Yes! I needed prayer. Then I received a text from another dear friend. We called to talk about her Christian missionary blog, but she said that she’d pray for me.
Then the district manager called. We had an adult, intelligent, pleasant, meaningful conversation. The outcome was that the company would make the modification my wife and I had expected. We’re happy.
Many people like to quote the scripture, “…God is love.” not knowing the full verse in 1 John 4:8 (ESV), which reads, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God’s promises always carry conditions. So, what terms are included in us loving God? We get a glimpse in the Old Testament book of Micah which reads:
Micah 6:8 (ESV)
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.
There’s more that God requires, but this passage can get us pointed in the right direction. We are to personally act justly even if the law gives us a loophole, and to love mercy even when we have every right to demand “our pound of flesh” and to walk humbly in every aspect of our lives; this may be the most challenging requirement.
Humility is not a weakness, for it requires incredible strength, which can only come through our faith in Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit within. Our perfect example of humility is Jesus. Through Jesus, we can love the way God desires, and that’s good news.
Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash
You may like:
https://rockexcavationservice.org/2019/01/04/abiding-love/