Micah 6:8
He has showed 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?
The devil always sends lies into the world in pairs. When God wants us to be aware of the complexity of a situation, the devil whispers in our ear, “Life should be simple and the church’s theology is soooo complicated”. Conversely, when God speaks of simplicity, the devil multiplies endless complexities to distract and delude us with nitpicking complaints about incredibly remote moral, theological, and philosophical quibbles. But the voice of Christ tends to slice through nonsense like a hot knife through butter. When we are overly simplistic (as, for example, when James and John suggested the “simple” solution of calling down fire from heaven on Samaritans who sinned), Jesus reminds us that such simple solutions are complicated by the fact that we are also sinners and are inviting the same judgment to fall upon ourselves. On the other hand, when we are tempted to emit a fog of complicated jargon and elaborate philosophical “questions” designed to excuse ourselves from the duties of charity, honesty, and honor, Jesus blows the fog away with the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. When we ponderously complexificate simplicity by asking, “What is goodness and does it really exist?” Jesus replies with today’s words from the prophet Micah. Today, let us take our stand in the broad daylight of God’s common sense and “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.”
