I’ve had the song “What does the Lord require of you?” running through my head all day. After my early morning reading for The Lent Project this verse just stuck with me and I was reminded of a General Assembly I attended long ago. We sang this song a lot and it was stuck in my head then just like it is now. Truthfully when I sing it, I’m inspired by it. It’s a great little song based on a wonderful passage. It reminds us that all the Lord requires of us is to seek justice in this world, to love mercy and walk humbly with God. These are things we can do. Things we can accomplish.
Take seeking justice for example. We can seek justice out. We should look for ways to create better circumstances for others, provide opportunities for growth and speak out against that which is wrong. Mercy should be easy. Everyone wants to be forgiven so it should be easy to forgive others. And we should all be humble as we approach God because God is God after all. Upon reflection today though I have to say that I’m fairly certain it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Honestly I’m not sure I always see the things I should see in this world. I read the papers and I see pain on people’s faces but do I really see, really see enough to be propelled into action. To speak out and act when it’s needed. I desire to be merciful and forgive but sometimes it’s really hard. I need to work on continually offering kindness and forgiveness not just to others but also myself. Last but certainly not least is approaching God in a humble way. I need to stop thinking I know what is best and I am relatively certain if God could be driven off of a cliff I would’ve done it with some of the conditions I put on things. I am striving to improve in this area but some days are better than others.
I really want to live out this verse. To live a life where I see injustice and act to make things right. I want to practice kindness. I desire to always approach God humbly. I may not be quite there yet as I’m a work in progress but as long as I keep working I’ll get there.
