Do Justice, Love Kindness and Walk Humbly With Our God

March 5, 2025

Leadership Notes

     I’m hard-pressed to find compelling Biblical precedence for a secular nation to engage in the affairs of the world. In the same way, I see scant Biblical evidence for how a sovereign nation ought to approach those illegally trying to gain entry. Likewise, how does a secular society tackle pressing social issues?

     What is the Biblical guidance? What passages or verses apply? Can we extrapolate a context from thousands of years ago to our situation today?

     How a person approaches these questions hinge on one’s worldview, in part. It has always seemed to me that the United States has acted like the world’s rich drunken uncle, doling out money, pell-mell. There’s little-to-no accountability. In a specific context, Jesus told his disciples to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” I think we can safely apply this wisdom to these broader circumstances.

     I’m wondering if, historically, politicians and bureaucrats have recklessly burned through the money of the people of our nation? It sure seems so. I love how Ron Paul puts it:

“I am absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us

peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited

government, and minding our own business overseas.”

My isolationist instincts, while not fully radicalized, have hardened over the years.

     Micah 6:8 speaks differently to me today than it did decades ago:

He has told you, O man, what is good;    

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,     

and to walk humbly with your God?

We live out our faith in Jesus Christ here in our little corner of God’s world. We grow where we’re planted. We worship God…we love each other…we love our neighbors…we help those in our midst…we support the mission work of our denomination…we share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the unsaved. I like simple things.

     Someone once said, “Pull all foreign funding; let the world sink or swim.” I know I’m just an idiot in Small Town, U.S.A., but a guy can hope and pray. It’s time to sober up the rich, drunk uncle.

     In the spirit of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Grace be with all

who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”

                                       Richard