He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.                              Micah 6:8

When I was in kindergarten and first grade, an opportunity was given to students on a rotating basis to bring in an item from home to show the class and tell about it. I have fond memories of Show and Tell time. Sometimes the teacher would pick a theme like a favorite book or a topic that complimented a lesson and occasionally it was left open for whatever each child felt was important or interesting to bring and share. 

I remember my teacher explaining how Show and Tell would work by modeling it for us. She brought in her favorite book and walked us through the process of what we should do when it was our turn to share. 

I loved Show and Tell. I liked seeing things brought in by my friends and learning more about each classmate. But mostly, I enjoyed it when it was my turn to participate. I can remember carefully selecting just the right item and how excited I was to explain it to the others in my class. Once it was a puppet and another time a picture and later a book.

I have always been a rule follower and somewhat of a teacher pleaser, so when my turn came, I was careful to follow the example set by my teacher; consequently, it frustrated me when others did not. I wasn’t sure why that one child brought in a stuffed animal when the teacher clearly instructed us to bring in a picture of a favorite toy or why that one boy kept asking if he could bring in his lizard when the teacher said, “No live animals.” Come on, people – get with the program!

Micah 6:8 reminds me of Show and Tell time. Jesus came to Earth and showed us what is good and pleasing and the Bible tells us clearly what is required of us. Simply stated in this verse, we are told to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Each of these things were modeled by Jesus and are reflected in scripture. Now, it is our turn to put that into practice. To Show and Tell others so they will know too. 

Why, then, does this seem so hard? 

To act justly, I should treat all people with dignity and respect. I need to do what I say I will do, say what I mean, and mean what I say. To act justly requires action. When injustices are seen, we should seek to correct those. It sounds simple enough, but it gets complicated when our personal feelings cloud our judgement. It can be hard to empathize with others who are not like us. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and remaining silent, we are called to exercise empathy and take action. 

So, how about loving mercy? This is often compared to kindness and extending kindness to others. Let’s be clear about this and what it means. It means extending kindness to ALL others, not just the ones who can do something for us or the ones who are like us or the ones who are kind to us. It means extending kindness to the people who upset you, to the people you don’t understand, and to those who you know nothing about and who can do nothing for you. Loving mercy means extending forgiveness too – ouch! That can be a difficult one.

Act justly … love mercy … 

Now, all you need to do is walk humbly with your God. We each must accept that we are dependent on God. We should not be arrogant and put ourselves above others. We must acknowledge that all that we have is from God. Without Him, we are nothing. This can be hard to swallow – a piece of humble pie so to speak. We grow up learning to be independent – to be out on our own. Just like when my young child pushed me away and said he could do things all by himself. We do that to God. We think we don’t need Him. We push Him away. We want to do things all on our own. As adults we must revisit this concept of independence where God is concerned. Walk humbly. Be subordinate to His will in our lives.

Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. 

Show and Tell.

Now it’s your turn. Think of the example set by Jesus and the teachings in your Bible. Use these as a guide. 

Come on, people – get with the program! Show and Tell.