Dear Friends,
In recent years, there has been a lot of public conversation about what is genuinely good and what is not. Is empathy good or bad? Is caring for suffering people in other countries good or bad? Is it good or bad to welcome refugees? Is it good or bad to provide hormone therapy to children with gender dysphoria? Is it good or bad to let trans athletes compete as a person of their chosen sex? What is the "good" way to tell the story of a nation's history? Political arguments can be convoluted, manipulative, and emotionally charged. But the Bible often makes very simple statements that point us calmly and rationally in the right direction. I like this stanza from Micah 6:8 (NIV).
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.
In simple words, fairness is good. Not fairness in the sense of a rigid system where the most important things are the rules but fairness in the sense that everyone matters as much as anyone else and what matters most is caring for people. That's where mercy comes in. We are to love mercy - to delight in and passionately prioritize caring for the needs of others, alleviating their suffering and offering grace and forgiveness wherever possible.
Humility is good. Pride is not good. Putting others down is not good. Boasting is not good. Imagining yourself as better or more important than someone else is not good. Humility is remembering that you might be wrong about things and that you might have done wrong things that hurt someone else. Humility is remembering that any intelligence, attractiveness, wealth, etc. that you may have is not a reflection of your character or worth but an unearned blessing for which to be grateful. Humility is also being comfortable enough with yourself to help others to feel good about who they are. These things are and always will be good.
Of course, this doesn't woodenly answer all of our questions about how to handle every situation. Sometimes we will still disagree on what constitutes the good in a particular scenario. But it provides a sure and stable foundation from which we cannot go too far wrong and which enables us to recover gracefully when we do miss the mark. Whatever else happens around us, let's stick closely to these good things that God requires of us.
A prayer for today:
God, teach me to be humble. Protect me from becoming prideful or being impressed by those who are proud. Let me be content to be small and ordinary. And let me be both just and merciful. Let me be fair and kind to everyone, always putting people first, recognizing the value of each person just as much as another. Let me never delight in another's suffering but always seek to be a source of healing and blessing. Amen.
Love in Christ Always,
Michelle
