Month: February 2026

Many of us function by living according to a schedule.  There is a time to get up, a time to be at work, a time to eat meals, a time to show up for a meeting.  There is a time for everything.   Now some do not worry so much about time.  But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a schedule.  There are slots in our day we reserve for most everything.  

I think what we miss is to schedule time for the most important parts of our lives.  We have demands on our time.  We have places we need to be.  There are appointments to make and keep up with.  But what about making time for those most important to us?  What about scheduling in time for those we care deeply for and deserve more of our time than anything else?  

Most of us believe we will just naturally be with those we care about.  It will just happen organically.  The problem is, everything else in our schedule eats up the slots we could have reserved for those most important.  We allow our schedules to be full without managing it to ensure we don’t miss the important things.

Maybe we start by reevaluating this.  What or who is most important in our lives?  Do we schedule time for our spouse and children?  Do we schedule time to take care of ourselves so we are a better person for those around?  Do we schedule time with God, our Creator and Redeemer?

In Christianity (and other religions as well), there is this idea of offices.  These are times throughout the day when people stop, worship and pray.  These are built into the day.  I most noticed this rhythm when I spent time at a monastery.  Regardless of the work that had to be done or the appointment which needed to be scheduled, the offices were set first.  They were a given in the day.  These were built in so all could make sure to spend time with the most important – God. 

Most of us won’t follow the idea of offices in our day.  But what if we started with just a slot, just an appointment to spend time with God?  What if we made God a priority in our lives?  We just might see everything else change.  Maybe time is valuable, especially when it is spent with God.  

It’s just a little over a month into this new year.  For us in Eastern NC, this has been an interesting start for February.  We are not accustomed to snow and below freezing temps.  This is unusual and can be a bit disorienting.  For business owners, we are having to decide when to open and when to stay at home for safety purposes.  For those who began a new routine for the beginning of the year – maybe going to the gym, running, eating healthy, or moving more – this likely throws everything off.  February is already a challenging time without this new obstacle.

It can be easy to give up our goals now.  We likely haven’t been able to keep up our routines.  Our habits have been interrupted.  Our healthier eating went missing when the snacks entered our home.  And who can get out to exercise or go to the gym?  So we could just give up.  We could just call it quits.  

Some of you are thinking – “this is why I didn’t start anyway…I knew this would happen.”  But if we don’t ever start, how will anything ever change?  It’s the wrong attitude to never start just because you don’t know what will happen.  It’s defeating to never take the first step because the following steps might be difficult.  

This doesn’t just go for our physical health either.  This goes for our spiritual health as well.  We start by doing a daily devotional and then our world goes crazy.  We begin reading the Psalms and then we miss a week somewhere along the way.  We start praying on a regular basis only to find we have missed more days than we prayed.  And we begin to think everything is conspiring to make sure we don’t do it.  So we give up.  It’s too hard.  

We can live defeated and just go back to our old routines.  Those were easier anyway.  We didn’t have to worry about what we eat because we can pick up drive thru.  We didn’t have to worry about where we will fit in a work out if we just don’t.  We didn’t have to worry about opening our Bibles or praying if we don’t ever try.  And we don’t have to worry about ever growing or becoming better or becoming more like Christ.

Nothing is accomplished by giving up.  We don’t become better followers of Christ by quitting.  We don’t have healthier bodies by eating whatever we want and not moving.  We don’t become better mentally by telling ourselves what a failure we are.  We change by getting back up and trying again.  Just start now.  It isn’t too late.  And today is a perfect day to begin.

You may not be able to get out and go to the gym or outside to exercise, but you can pick up your Bible and pray.  You can choose what you put into your body and into your mind.  You DO have control over that.  And tomorrow, you can make your way to the moving more.  You get to decide what this day looks like.  I get to decide what I do today that is good for me – body, mind, and spirit.  The choice is yours – the choice is mine – maybe we just start.  It just might be the change we need.

As Christians, if we are doing deep study and really seeking God, we can wonder if we are doing what God wants us to do.  Many people are looking for their purpose and trying to find what God has created them to do.  As followers of Christ, we should be seeking out how we as a community of believers, can become more like him.  We should find ourselves constantly reevaluating our actions and intentions.  It is really easy to take our focus off of following God and instead, seek what we want.  It happens so easily and without us even noticing, if we aren’t paying close intention.  All of a sudden, the church becomes what we want it to be and does what we want it to do, rather than what God wants.  And we don’t notice if we aren’t paying attention, seeking God in everything, and listening to him as he leads and guides us.  We cannot get complacent in our walk with God.  It is a continual work of seeking and hearing.

The Israelites in today’s scripture had gotten complacent.  They know the practices of what makes them religious.  They understand to show up for worship, to go through the motions, and to feel good about what they have done.  They do it in the name of God, but it’s really for them.  They want to be able to know they are doing all of the right things.  But they have lost focus.  They aren’t doing these things for God any longer.  They are doing it for themselves.  Their motives and intentions are tainted.  They have turned inward and it is showing.  God noticed and he is hurt, disappointed, and re-directive.

Micah 6 is one of the most familiar scriptures of the Old Testament.  This particular chapter is set up like a courtroom case.  God will speak his case, with witnesses listening (the mountains and foundations).  The people will respond.  And there will be a final verdict, so to speak.  Follow the sequence as we read Micah 6:1-8.

God presents his case.  And he presents it with compassion.  He is asking questions of the Israelites to help them hear where they may have gone off track.  He asks them how has he wearied them.  What have I done to you?  He reminds them of their story.  It is one of redemption, one of deliverance, one of instruction, and one of salvation.  They were brought out of a bad place and into the Promised Land.  They were given all they needed and then some.  God had rescued them and provided for them.  Had they forgotten?  And he reminds them with just a few key points that should spark memories and stories.  This should help them to know who they belong to and what God has done.

The Israelites respond.  They, of course, don’t understand.  They show up to worship.  They give.  They sacrifice.  They do all the right things.  Their motions are correct.  Their actions are following the law.  They want to know what more could God possibly want?  What was he expecting of them?  What more could he possibly ask?  And they do this with dialogue which is over the top.  They want to know when is it enough for God.  They want to know if they give all of this, will it ever be enough.

And God responds.  The problem isn’t their actions, it’s their intentions, it’s their heart.  They are doing what they are doing without real meaning.  They are not really doing all of this for God.  They are selfishly going through the motions.  And so God responds with words they were not expecting.  He didn’t want them to offer more sacrifices.  He didn’t want them to show up for worship more or sing more songs.  He wanted them to change their heart.  He wanted their heart to be reflected in what they did.  And this looked like 3 things:

They were to do justice.  This looked like caring for the widows, the orphans, and the strangers.  It looked like caring for the least of these.  It was about not hoarding all of the resources and leaving others out.  It was about giving and not receiving.  It was about following the commandments God had given them.

They were to love kindness.  This word has deep meaning beyond what the English language can contain.  It is a merciful, loving kindness which is a characteristic of God.  He wants them to love one another as he has loved them.  He wants them to be merciful and loving.  Their kindness should come from a place of deep love.

They were to walk humbly with God.  Walking with God was the key to all of this.  They had walked on their own.  They had gone through the motions but without the heart of following God.  They had not been walking with God through all of this.  If they had, they would have done justice and loved mercy.  They would have been doing the right things because that’s what God wanted.  

To walk humbly with God is the starting place of it all.  We all have a story.  God has been with us in so many ways.  We tend to forget this when all is going well.  We can easily get off track.  We can take our focus off of God and put it on the wrong things.  But coming back to the core – walking with God – is vital.  When we walk with God, we begin to do justice because God is a just God.  We begin to love others because God is love.  We change when we truly walk humbly with God.We could all use some humble walking with God.  That probably takes some redirection and some deep seeking.  It might take some admitting we are wrong and coming back to where he is.  May God find us not simply going through the motions, but seeking him with all that we are and all that we do