Our Bible verse for today: “Mankind, he has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Just do your part”
In Micah 6:8 the people of God are given a simple and beautiful general principle with which to approach life. Essentially it says, “Just do your part”. “Act justly, be faithful, and walk humbly with God.” In other words, just be a good and decent person. Know the Word of God, live your life within Biblical boundaries, do your best to be a blessing to others and to honor God with your ways, and then just live life.
As we think about the huge, and complex, and politically-charged subject of environmental issues, it can seem overwhelming. When we think about a floating patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of the state of Texas (the Great Pacific Garbage Patch), what can one person in Crossville, TN do about that? Are the polar icecaps really melting? How would I know and what can I do about it? Does Al Gore really have an Olympic-sized heated indoor swimming pool in his home that uses six times as much electricity annually than one normal-sized home? How can I make him stop that? And can I come over for a swim?
The issues are big and complex and confusing, and it can seem as if there’s not much that any one individual can do about it. That’s true enough if you’re only looking at the big picture. But God isn’t calling on you to solve the whole problem. He’s only asking you (and me) to do our parts. It you’re the only one who decides to use a little less plastic, it won’t matter much. But if we all decide to use a little less plastic it will make a big difference. If one person stops throwing trash on the ground that would be nice. If everyone stops throwing trash on the ground our roadsides would look a lot nicer.
Big things are made up of little things. Big results come from lots of small efforts brought together for a common cause to achieve a worthwhile goal. I encourage you to just do your part. Lots of small individual efforts add up to big results.
Tomorrow we will consider some success stories which powerfully demonstrate that when Christians come together for a worthy cause, and when they don’t give-up, God often produces amazing results.
Oak Hill Baptist Church