[God] already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously. Micah 6:8, MSG
I appreciate this little nugget of Scripture because it takes all the guess work out of trying to figure out the big questions of life. For those of us who no longer have to debate the existence of God, here’s a simple truth, a simple way to live. The writer of Micah 6 doesn’t say we have to be perfect. He also isn’t suggesting we don’t have to think for ourselves or do work that is meaningful. He doesn’t divide any of us up by culture, belief systems, or personal opinions. He simply suggests that each of us figure out what it means to love those around us and be fair when we deal with one another. How can we be fair, compassionate and loving if we’re on opposite sides of the fence, you may ask?
The thing is that God is an equal opportunity being. He doesn’t favor one group over another. He doesn’t see big sins and little sins, it’s all sin. He doesn’t see as humans see. Actually, that’s the good news. He sees one thing! He sees your heart and mine. He looks there to see if we’ve embraced the divine spark of love that He placed within each of us. He looks there to see if we’ve figured out that we did not randomly come to earth, or that we’ll exit unnoticed, or that we have to prove His existence to anyone else. He’ll prove Himself to those who are ready to receive Him. No matter how brilliant, or creative, or delightful we are as human beings, we can’t save ourselves, so God gave us a way back to Him. We can’t fix the mess we’re in.
So what does God want? He wants us to remove the obstacles we’ve put in place ourselves that cause us to resist Him. He wants us to know that He loves us despite our temper tantrums, our questionable habits and our inability to give each other room to be who He designed us to be. He wants softer, warmer, happier hearts that recognize He’s always existed, He’ll exist long after the earth is gone, and our eternal souls will exist with Him. He is indeed the only issue humans should take seriously. Everything else pales by comparison. The one thing you can do that will make any difference at all is to keep His light on and love the people around you.
It’s that simple!