A gift for a King

DAILY READING

Micah 6:6-8

FIELD NOTES

I wonder if the Wise Men worried about the gifts that they would give to Jesus? Sometimes in December, in the excitement of Christmas, I get caught up in gift-giving. I want to find the perfect gift for the people I love. I can focus too much on the material or symbolic aspect of a gift, and forget that the most important gifts I can give are my love, my presence, and the embodiment of what Advent and Christmas are really about – the celebration of Christ’s birth!  

Thankfully, this passage in Micah assures us that God does not want extravagant gifts, God does not want repayment for the debt of our sins. Instead, God only wants us “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (v. 8).

If you find yourself wondering what you can do to honor Christ this Christmas, read Micah 6:6-8 and meditate on what God is asking of you.

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ 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.

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• What gifts is God calling you to share with the world? What is preventing you from answering this call?  

FAMILY FIELD TALK

• What does it mean to act justly? How can you do this at school? 
• What does it mean to love mercy? What does this look like? 
• How can you walk humbly with God? 

PRAYER GUIDE

Dear God, Thank you for the gift of your Son. We will never be able to give a gift as wonderful as You have given us, but thank you for assuring us that this is not expected or required. Help us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with You. Amen.