Walk Humbly

Am I good enough? I've made a career of being an overachiever, and yet - is it enough? I'm sometimes so aware of shortcomings, confusion, doubts, and the propensity to sin that lies beneath my carefully groomed exterior. Now, I can say with great bravado that God loves me unconditionally. The question is, Do I live as if that is true? As if I know that I am deeply loved by the creator of the universe? Or am I worried that I've somehow disappointed God and everyone else? Have I somehow fallen short?

What does God expect, anyway? What does he want from us? The world is full of problems, and it seems like people have a lot of different ideas about what it means to follow God, about what he wants us to do. They focus on rules, sometimes. By keeping the rules, can you make God love you?

God answered this question through the Old Testament prophet Micah: "He has shown all you people 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" (Mic. 6:8).

We sometimes think of humility as being self-deprecating or overly modest. Consider that phrase: to walk humbly with your God. If you walk with someone, beside them, you share a certain intimacy. To walk with God implies an ongoing relationship, a certain familiar constancy, a daily dwelling with rather than an occasional encounter. It also implies action. You aren't just thinking about God; you're going and doing with him. You'd expect us to have a certain sense of self-worth from the privilege of that intimacy, that relationship.

-Keri Wyatt Kent, Simple Compassion