{"id":22972,"date":"2019-08-21T21:48:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T01:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=22972"},"modified":"2019-08-22T07:11:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T11:11:50","slug":"worship-wednesday-we-must-go-justice-of-god-tim-hughes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=22972","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – We Must Go – Justice of God – Tim Hughes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Heartlight<\/a><\/p>\n

He has shown you, O mankind, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>– Micah 6:8<\/a><\/p>\n

For several weeks now, I’ve been reading the Scripture with God’s justice on my heart. It’s strange how I missed that in the past…sort of read over it. Struggled with it, so just chose (without thinking) to ignore it. In thinking about salvation, I had made it a matter of mercy rather than justice. My sins had separated me from God. Apart from relying on what Jesus did for me, those sins would have forever separated me from a holy God. What God did on the cross was justice… and mercy. Jesus who was without sin took my sin, all of it, upon Himself. Because of him, before God, I am justified. “Just-as-if-I’d” never sinned. Because of him, I can now live forever knowing God and being with Him…forever. It is an incredible reality this justice and mercy woven together.<\/p>\n

God says something like this: Because I have saved you from Egypt, you should live like people who have been saved from Egypt. In the New Testament, Paul teaches the same way. He says that Christians are \u2018dead to sin.\u2019 Because they are \u2018dead to sin,\u2019 they should live like people who are dead to sin by putting sin to death (Rom 6:1-11). What God has done for us is the basis of what He commands us to do. The basic command is: Be the kind of people that the Lord has made you; live up to who you are.<\/em> [Peter J. Leithart, A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament<\/em> (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2000), 79]<\/a><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8 gives us direction on what God calls us to be and to do – He has given us so much – forgiveness of sins, abundant and eternal life, a right relationship with Him and the possibility of the same with each other, and work on this side of Heaven to point others to Him.<\/p>\n

What does that look like? Micah 6:8 – Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. <\/strong>He calls His people to be like Him and to be His image-bearers in this world. To “be the kind of people that the Lord has made [us]; live up to who [we] are.”<\/p>\n

How different our world might be if we as individual believers and the church at large walked humbly with God, acted justly toward others and loved mercy?<\/p>\n

British songwriter\/worship leader Tim Hughes<\/a> has given us some great worship songs, including Here I Am to Worship<\/em><\/a>. His call to justice and the God of Justice<\/em><\/a> in the song below was new to me until this week.<\/p>\n

Let’s worship<\/a> together.<\/p>\n

God of Justice, Saviour to all
\nCame to rescue the weak and the poor
\nChose to serve and not be served<\/p>\n

Jesus, You have called us
\nFreely we’ve received
\nNow freely we will give<\/p>\n

We must go live to feed the hungry
\nStand beside the broken
\nWe must go
\nStepping forward keep us from just singing
\nMove us into action
\nWe must go<\/p>\n

To act justly everyday
\nLoving mercy in every way
\nWalking humbly before You God<\/p>\n

You have shown us, what You require
\nFreely we’ve received
\nNow freely we will give<\/p>\n

We must go live to feed the hungry<\/p>\n

Stand beside the broken
\nWe must go
\nStepping forward keep us from just singing
\nMove us into action
\nWe must go<\/p>\n

Fill us up and send us out
\nFill us up and send us out
\nFill us up and send us out Lord (x4)<\/p>\n

Acting humbly
\nLoving mercy
\nWe must go, we must go
\nTo the broken
\nAnd the hurting
\nWe must go, we must go<\/p>\n

We must go live to feed the hungry
\nStand beside the broken
\nWe must go
\nStepping forward keep us from just singing
\nMove us into action
\nWe must go*<\/p>\n