I’ve often heard people talk about how awesome it would be if life came with instructions. Go to this college, take that job, marry this person, buy that house, etc.

I’ve also heard it said that Scripture is that instruction book. Apparently everything we need to know can be found in the Holy book.

For some strange reason when I’ve heard people say this, I’ve always felt much more annoyed than relieved. I mean honestly, it’s not the same thing. I’m not looking for a book with general guidelines and rules to live by; I’m looking for specific answers to specific questions! When I don’t know what to do about the weird noise my sewing machine is making, I can just pull out the owner’s manual and flip to the FAQ section. Where is the FAQ section for life?!?

This morning I was hit with a totally different approach to this whole concept. Turns out 2 Peter 1:3 is actually right:

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

Cue Micah 6:8. He has shown us what is good and what He requires of us. Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him.

Now at first all I thought of when I heard that verse was the old camp song that I learned when I was a little kid. It’s one of those verses that everybody knows… Basically a Christian cliche. And since it’s such a popular verse, no one who’s actually serious about their faith would study it, you know? We super Christians need to look for other more obscure verses to cling to, just to make sure that everyone knows how well we know our Bibles. (Side note: What a screwed up thought! “That verse is too popular so it’s not good enough for me”? Yeah. Definitely experiencing some significant conviction here.)

So, once I realized that this verse is actually worth studying, I realized that I probably need to do something about what it says. Cue this story:

Once upon a time there was a wonderful family. The mother of the family asked her son to clean his room. Immediatley the son went to his room, leaving his mother absolutely delighted that he would obey without hesitation. A little while later the boy came out of his room, but much to his mother’s disappointment, his room was just as messy as it had ever been! The mother asked her son what he had been doing the whole time, and he replied, “I memorized what you told me to do! ‘Clean your room.’ See! I know exactly what you said, word for word!”

The mother answered her son, “That’s fine, but I didn’t ask you to memorize my words, I asked you to actually clean your room. Now go back to your room and clean it!”

The son went back to his room and emerged half an hour later holding a big poster. “Look, Mom!” he said. “I made a poster to remind me to clean my room! I can hang it on my wall and every time I see it I’ll remember to clean my room.” He proudly showed her the poster he had made, in all of its colorful, glittery splendor.

Unfortunately, the mother didn’t respond the way the son was hoping. “That’s great, son, but I didn’t ask you to make a poster; I asked you to clean your room. Now please go and clean your room!”

The son nodded his head and spun around right back to his room and stayed there for over an hour. Eventually the mother got curious and went to check on her son, only to find his room even messier than it had originally been with her son sitting in the middle of the room on a pile of dirty laundry humming away.

“What in the world is going on here?!” she asked her son in disbelief. “I asked you to do one thing: clean your room, and not only have you failed to do that, but you’ve actually made it messier! What could you possibly have been doing this whole time?”

The son boldly looked up at his mother with a hopeful shimmer in his eye and said, “Listen to this, mom! I’ve been writing a song about cleaning my room!” And he went on to hum the first few bars while his mother just stared at him in disbelief.

Oftentimes, we do this exact same thing when we come across imperative statements in Scripture. We read them, memorize them, write them down, hang them up in our homes, sing songs about them, and often even talk about how important they are, and all the while God watches over us saying, “That’s great, but what I really want is for you to actually DO those things.”

Now whenever we start talking about “doing” anything in church, I know many people (and sometimes I can be one of them) who immediately stop listening and start their rebuttal about how we as Christians cannot and should not do anything because Christ has already done everything for us. And that is absolutely true in the context of salvation. There is nothing I can do to make myself more righteous in the sight of God because Christ’s finished work of redemption on the cross has been imputed to me, and that is the one and only reason I can stand before God as His forgiven child and heir.

However, there’s also this other thing called sanctification. Gerhard Forde described sanctification as “getting used to justification” (source). It’s not moralism, and it’s not adding to justification; rather it’s allowing the Holy Spirit to make us aware of the redemption and new life that is already ours.

And this brings me back to Micah 6:8.

Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Act Justly

There is one sense of this that is executed by the government: bringing justice to criminals and lawbreakers. However, there’s another sense of this that applies directly to us, and that involves social justice.

Do we have a heart for the poor? The oppressed? Those who have been taken advantage of? Those who cannot or will not help themselves? Acting justly involves seeking out and actually doing the next right thing that God is calling you to do. It looks different for each person. What does it look like for you?

Love Mercy

Mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

And the Hebrew word here isn’t limited to mercy; it can also be translated to include love, kindness, loyalty, and faithfulness. What would it look like to truly love the mercy/love/kindness/loyalty/faithfulness of God? What do you do with things you love? How would your words and actions change if you could honestly say that you loved mercy?

Walk Humbly

Humility is a posture of the heart, an attitude of making yourself small in light of the greatness of God. It really just means having an accurate view of yourself and of God.

Tim Howard, goalie for 2014 USA World Cup soccer team, is an example of one who is walking humbly, as is evidenced in many of his interviews:

Today, I am blessed to be living a dream. And yet, if it all went away tomorrow, I know I would still have peace. That probably sounds crazy to most people, but that’s the kind of peace Christ gives. It is rooted in His love, and it surpasses all understanding.

How will this change the way you live? That is a great question to ask whenever you come into contact with the life-giving sword of the Spirit. Maybe one of these imperitives resonated strongly with you, or perhaps all three of them did. The important thing is that when you walk away from this article, you don’t just memorize the words, make a poster, or write a song about Micah 6:8; rather you actually allow the Spirit to work in your heart and do what Scripture says, not for your own benefit, but for the glory of God.