What Does God Require?

What does God require of mankind? If we remove transgressions from the picture we are left with this.

"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?" - Micah 6:8 ESV

But transgressions complicate things don't they? When we step over the line in life there are new requirement that get added. Fines. Penalties.

When Adam sinned death was added to the equation.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23 ESV

When Jesus came to Earth He met all of God's requirements in every way. Then in His death He met all of our transgression born requirements also.

"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:10-11 ESV

God has only one demand from people. All other demands have been met. It is the lone requirement that takes sin out of the way so that a real relationship can form on His terms.

"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' '... 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.' " - John 3:5-7, 16-17 ESV

We were all born of water. We spent nine months in someone's womb floating in that water. But we must be born of the Spirit by believing in the Son.

Man requires so many things in the name of God and what is right but God has one requirement and He wraps that requirement in a gift and holds that gift out to us and says, 'Please take what my Son has done for you. Take the gift and it will make you clean.'

"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?" - Micah 6:8 ESV

Now the passage takes on fresh meaning when we have experienced God's grace and mercy. We walk with Jesus now are He knows all about these three things. He does justly. He loves mercy (kindness). He walks humbly and we walk with Him.

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