Walk Humbly

The Reality

Here, in one verse, is the entire architecture of a good man. Do justly: be righteous in your dealings, fair, honest, upright toward every person. Love mercy: be tender, forgiving, quick with grace toward the weak and the failing. And walk humbly with your God: keep the whole thing bowed low before the One who gave it. Justice without mercy hardens into cruelty. Mercy without justice dissolves into weakness. Humility holds them both in their place.

Notice the order and the balance. A man who only does justice becomes a hammer, right about everything and warm toward no one, correct and unbearable. A man who only loves mercy becomes a pushover, endlessly excusing what should be confronted. The good man is not one or the other. He is firm and he is tender, hard on sin and soft on people, and it is humility before God that keeps the two from tearing him in half.

And of the three, humility is the root. It is what keeps your justice from becoming self- righteous and your mercy from becoming approval-seeking. The humble man does justice without needing to be seen as just, and shows mercy without needing to be thanked, because he is walking with God and not performing for men. His eyes are up, not sideways.

This is the goal of all the tearing down you have done in these weeks: not just to stop being bad, but to become good in this full, balanced, three-fold way. So walk it today. Be just in one dealing, merciful in one moment, and humble in the whole thing. This is what the Lord requires, and it is enough for a lifetime.