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. (Micah 6:8, NIV)
During a round of golf, we enjoy putting “3s” on our scorecard. On par-3s, a “3” is good. On par-4s, a “3” is really good and on par-5s, a “3” is really, really good! Micah uses “3s” in today’s verse to emphasize what God requires of us. The Rule of Three—the use of triads or triplets—is a tool recognized by persuasion experts who tell us that we are more likely to remember a message or be moved to action if items are grouped in threes. Shakespeare effectively used triads: “Friends, Romans, Countrymen…”. When Madison Avenue tries to sell us breakfast cereal, it uses triads: “Snap, Crackle, Pop”. As Christians, we have the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
In leading up to his important triad, Micah admonished the Israelites for focusing on outward actions like burnt offerings or animal sacrifices to show their dedication to God. In verse 8, he attempted to shift their focus from the “how many” or “how much” that is tied up in their outward actions to the inward characteristics of their hearts. He effectively uses a triad to reinforce what the people of Israel already should know and what ought to be on their hearts: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.
We should be thinking about how we can use our time to reach out to those who are reluctant to ask for assistance.Acting justly, loving mercy and kindness, and walking humbly is an easy-to-remember triad, but it is difficult to consistently apply in our daily lives. Acting justly requires us to live with a sense of right and wrong and to protect the oppressed, the poor, and the vulnerable from injustice. Showing compassion, forgiveness, and kindness allows us to demonstrate what it means to “love mercy.” We need to show others the same degree of mercy that we want to receive from our Heavenly Father. Walking humbly with God involves making him a constant companion and guide in our daily life. In that walk we must not be arrogant or boastful. We must be humble. We must surrender any notion that we are somehow self-sufficient. Instead, we must be totally reliant and dependent on God for all our needs.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying sheltering rules and social distancing, many of us have more time on our hands these days. Suddenly opportunities have been provided to us to live out Micah’s triad. Are we making calls to homebound elderly friends or neighbors to see if we might bring them any food or supplies from the store or pick up their prescriptions? Could we help them with computer technology, so they can communicate with friends and loved ones? Could we Facetime or Zoom with someone who is quarantined?
We should be thinking about how we can use our time to reach out to those who are reluctant to ask for assistance. When we do these things, we need to do them from the heart and with great humility. If we take a closer look at Micah’s triad, we’ll find that his “3” is really, really, really great!
—
Mark “Ole” Olson
April 29, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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