Dear Reader,

I am on my third trip through the Bible on this chapter-a-day journey and my fourth or fifth trip through the New Testament. The truth is that I rarely remember what I’ve written each day. In fact, Wendy often comments that she just read my post from a day or two before and I have to ask her what it was about because I’ve already forgotten it. Thus, in the quiet this morning, when I vividly remembered what I’d written about Micah 6 in July of 2015, I figured maybe there was something there that should be dusted off for those of you who were not on the journey back then. And for those of you who were, I hope it is as good a reminder for you as it was for me in my dusting it off.

Have a great day!
Tom

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 (NIV)

I am on the road training this week. When our group analyzes a company’s phone calls, we methodically tear it down into a ton of behavioral and analytical data points. When sharing the data with Customer Service Representatives and translating it into actionable training points I find that the sheer volume of data and the machinations of our analytical process can easily overwhelm them. As I walk through the information, I sometimes see my client’s eyes glaze over and I know that I’ve lost them.

Over time, I’ve learned that many individuals simply need things boiled down for them. They don’t want lengthy explanations or an exhaustive review of all the data. They just want the Cliff Notes, the Reader’s Digest condensed version, the bullet points, or the crux of the matter. The client I’m working this week has well over 50 different data elements that we measure in their phone calls, but in my training this year I’m only talking about the five things that matter most.

Life and faith can sometimes be like that. God’s Message is a lengthy tome assembled over centuries in different languages. The contents are arranged categorically rather than chronologically. Some of it is history, while other parts are poetry and song lyrics. Other parts are letters and some of the stranger bits are prophetic messages in poetic form. It can be confusing to find and grasp the larger storyline. Sometimes we just want things boiled down into a bullet list.

God’s message through the prophet Micah does it nicely in today’s chapter:

• Act justly (e.g. do the right thing by God, others, and yourself)
• Love mercy (e.g. love tangibly, forgive continually, give sacrificially)
• Walk humbly (e.g. be considerate of others; put their needs ahead of your own)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.