But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously. (Micah 6:8 – The Message)
Have you ever thought about how to live your life? I never pay attention to this, assuming God would plan my path and it’s not up to me to plan my life. Recently, I start to think about this question more often and desperately want an answer. In the mist, this bible verse comes up. “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.” (Micah 6:8 MSG). At the beginning, I don’t really understand what it means. Then, I attempt to think of real life situations to illustrate what God is trying to say. Here are what I have come up. Do what is fair and just to your neighbor. I believe God wants us not to take advantage of others, be objective and don’t practice favoritism. Be compassionate and loyal in your love. I believe God wants us to be persistent in loving, be able to genuinely accept the good’s and bad’s of others, be able to see the needs of others and take actions accordingly. Don’t take yourself too seriously, take God seriously. I have difficulty understand this. What does it mean to not take myself too seriously? Can’t I plan about my future? Can’t I have dreams and desires? I believe God allows us to have dreams and pursue what we want in life, but we have to consider God in the picture. Imagine yourself in a husband and wife relationship. You don’t make decision purely out of your personal preferences and do whatever you want. You would discuss your thoughts with your other half, seek for his/her advices, and consider his/her feeling. If the other half is not comfortable with the decision, you will not attempt to convince him/her to buy in to your thoughts, you would rather let go of your desires until a consensus can be made. It is a similar situation when we consider God in the picture. We discuss our thoughts with Him. We have to trust that we will hear from Him if we seek Him. God can be part of our dreams. Whatever brings good to us, He will not keep them away from us.
