The Believer's Job Description

What does God want from me? He and I both know it’s inevitable that I will fail. So here’s the question: if my ultimate destiny depends not on me but on Christ’s finished work on the Cross (and thank God that’s so), what does He want from me here and now? If I want to do His will (and I do), what is it?

That was the question answered by Micah, one of Israel’s ancient prophets, and his answer is famously succinct:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:6-8, ESV)

“He has told you” (in other words, this isn’t news; we already know this) “what is good” and what God requires of His people. Micah lists three verbal phrases, three items in the believer’s simplified job description:

1. “to do justice” James warns us repeatedly that so-called “faith” that doesn’t manifest itself in an ethical life is a dead and useless thing, really no faith at all (James 2:14-17). Sound doctrine is empty and hypocritical if I don’t “do justice.”

2. “to love kindness” If sound ethics must characterize my private life, compassion should characterize my dealings with others. There’s no extra credit in compassion, even with the most annoying person in my life. Compassion is no more than “paying it forward” for God’s extraordinary kindness to me. I express my gratitude for God’s compassion by “loving kindness” in my dealings with others.

3. “to walk humbly with your God” After addressing our ethical life and our social life, Micah turns to our spiritual life, our relationship with God. And his job description is again succinct: “walk humbly” with God.

• It is a “walk,” not an episode. My relationship with God is a part of who I am, not an accessory to put on or take off according to the occasion.

• And it is humble, a consistent recognition of who He is (God) and who I am (not God) in the relationship. I am dependent on Him for wisdom, provision and protection. Because He’s God and I’m not, I don’t negotiate with Him, I adore and obey Him.

It’s only a three-item job description. It takes a moment to say, but a lifetime to fulfill.