It has been my experience that when you ask Christians what God requires of them most times they don’t know the answer. They typically pause and think about their response and sometimes the response is a hodgepodge of their feelings mixed together with a few scriptures here and there.

Now on the flip side, if I ask. What do YOU require from God? This list is easily known from the top of their heads and with the ease of a moving lip we can blurt it out. But shouldn’t this understanding of what is required/expected be a two-way street? With us being the creature fulfilling the requirement expectations of the Creator as priority.

(1) WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US?

Micah 6:8 (NIV) 8 “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.”

Act Justly: God wants us to treat men equally, carry about ourselves in a righteous and holy manner.

Love Mercy: Jesus told his disciples that blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy (Mathew 5:7). In essence, the more you give is the more you get! I don’t know about you, but I always need mercy from God. For the very thought of foolishness in my being is sin in his eyes (Proverbs 24:9). Just as we need mercy from God, Christians must give mercy to others. For our approach must always be mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). One level higher than this is what Micah instructs as a requirement, that we must “love mercy”. Not love to get it only but love to give it just the same.

Walk Humbly: Just as God gives more mercy to the merciful He gives more grace to the humble. James 4:6 (NIV) 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (Psalms 138:6; Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 29:23; Matthew 23:12; Luke 1:52; 1 Peter 5:5).

Think about what Jesus did for a moment. He left all His glory and splendour in heaven and came to this decaying earth. He chose not to be born in a king’s palace, not even a simple inn, but in a manger (stall or trough from which animals were fed) and to simple parentage. He didn’t come with the beauty of King David (1 Samuel 16:12), but formed with unattractive features (Isaiah 53:2) so that men would frown upon his countenance. Jesus humbled himself and went through great prosecution and pain until the end (death- Philippians 2:8) for us. If our Lord could have given up all his greatness in heaven and embraced such a low state on earth; who is me to think that I should exalt myself to be something when God requires that we empty ourselves to become nothing.

(2) WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US?

Another prominent scripture for understanding what God requires of us is found in Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13; “12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? “.

Note – When we do what the lord requires it is primarily for OUR OWN GOOD.”

This scripture is loaded, and time and brevity will not allow me to expand. However, I would like to underscore the need for us Christians to love God with all our heart and soul! Anything less will amount to cheating God of our love, especially when He holds nothing back and gives all of His.

CONCLUSION

As parents when we birth our children and they are not living up to our expectations how do we feel? Or for the creative among us, when you engineer or artistically create something, and it is not functioning as expected what happens? Well what happens is, we try to fix it and if that fails we discard it or distance ourselves from it in some way.

I thank God that He is not like man who is quick to discard or give up on his handiwork. But He is longsuffering towards us and is rich in grace and mercy. (2 Peter 3:9; Ephesians 2:4). But this does not mean we should take our God for granted and serve him unlike what he expects.

If we don’t know what is required them we don’t know what exactly to give/present. As followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we MUST have a clear understanding of what is required of us in God’s eyes and execute it.

Your brother and servant in the Lord

Dane A. Miller