Lord, What Do You Want From Me?

This is the question that the Israelites were asking in Micah 6. As the Israelites went through the centuries in various states of obedience and disobedience they finally cried out to God in an almost rhetorical way, "What will it take to please You! Does God want me to prostrate myself before him? Does God wish for burnt offerings of a yearling calf, or maybe the offering of thousands of rams? Does God demand from me an offering of ten thousand rivers of oil? Will He finally be pleased if I offer up my firstborn child? What is it going to take to please this insatiable God?"The Israelites are of course out of line in this progression of questioning. God did not have excessive demands nor has He ever demanded an abomination like that of child sacrifice. In fact, every step along the way God has cared and provided for the children of Israel. It was God who built them up as a nation. It was God who led them out of bondage from Egypt. It was God who provided Moses, Aaron, and Miriam as their leaders. In everything, God has done righteously to them. So, what does Lord require? He requires that his people do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with their God (Micah 6:8).As God's people, Christians should be men and women who deal justly with one another. In all our relationships and in all our interactions we should behave in accordance to God's will. Christians have been called to live to a higher standard. A standard that is predicated on doing good, even in the face of opposition. This principle is exemplified in Jesus' teaching in Luke 6:27-36.One the most fundamental concept of Christianity is that of love. We should be people who love and respect God as well as people who love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In fact, this love for one another is one of the hallmark characteristics of a follower of Christ (John 13:34-35).Perhaps most importantly, God requires that we humbly walk with Him. Humility is certainly not an easy thing to learn. It requires putting others before yourself, submitting your will to another. As Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, "...not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). There is a lesson to be learned from both Jesus' words and his example. Despite knowing the suffering that was at hand, Jesus humbled himself and submitted to the will of the Father.In short, what God wants from us is what he has always wanted for his people. He desires that we deal justly with the world, that we love and act kindly towards one another, and that in all things we walk humbly with Him, submitting our wills so that we might obey His.