What God requires of you, part 1

“With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:6-8).

Christians are called to have an impact on society. Our presence in the midst of the affairs of human life is to make a difference. One of the duties of Christians is to be salt and light in the midst of an increasingly apathetic and gray society. We are here, not just to believe something, but also to stand for something.

Too often we allow society to push us in a little corner called “religious life.” We are told that we can only speak to “religious” issues. We can believe anything we want to believe, as along as we do not attempt to use those views to change society. After all, everyone is entitled to an opinion. We should not be forcing our beliefs on others. There is some truth to this argument. Just as our right to religious freedom is guaranteed by our constitution so their right to religious freedom is also guaranteed. We all have the right in this country to be religious or to be free from religion. True religion can never be coerced anyway.

The problem is that there are two issues which generally get overlooked in this argument. The first is that we are all part of this society. It is nice to think that we are totally independent, but that is not true. The truth is that we are all interdependent. Like or not, my life influences yours, and your life impacts mine. We live in a society with other people whom we must consider. While I may consider my yard mine, if I were to begin to pile mountains of pungent manure there, my neighbors would most certainly complain. And they would have a right to. I would do the same. Just as my life impacts theirs, so their lives impact mine. And just as our beliefs and behaviors impact others in society, so their beliefs and behaviors impact us. So, like it or not, we must determine certain issues of right and wrong.

The laws of this land are based on certain principles of ethics and morality. It is obvious to any honest reader of history that the Judeo-Christian tradition was the prevailing view which shaped our society. It is also true that over the years we have changed our views on many things. Once we were more certain about the nature of truth. Now many will not even admit that there is such a thing as absolute truth. Nonetheless, the Ten Commandments, or at least some of them, have found expression in the laws of our land. For instance, we recognize that it is wrong to steal and murder. We have accepted these concepts as truth.

As Christians we are called to stand for truth, righteousness, and justice. Others may disagree with our view, but we must take our stand regardless. God has given us a standard of righteousness, and we are the bearers of that standard. To be sure, others have a right to make their case, but so do we. In fact, we must! If you, as a Christian, believe certain things are true, just and right, then you have a moral obligation to speak up. You had better speak up. If you do not, your voice will never even have the chance to rise above the clamor of all the others who are speaking.

Pastor Krouse can be reached at sskrouse@succeed.net or 696-00563 or 701-6668.