What does the Lord require of you?

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

My first year of college wasn't an easy one.  It was a big adjustment, living on my own, attending classes that weren't exactly easy.  I remember getting a D in Economics, and it CRUSHED me.  I called my parents in tears.  I had always gotten good grades.  A D was a first for me!  I just couldn't believe that had happened.

My dad asked me, "Well, did you do your best?"  I answered that I did, it was just one of those tough classes.  And he said to me, "That's all we ask of you.  That you do your best."

I've continued that line of reason in my own parenting. Of course we want our children to do well in school and get good grades, but we also know that as long as they do their very best, we'll be proud of them.  It doesn't matter if they get an A on every test.  It doesn't matter if they win the spelling bee.  As long as we see them trying, striving to do well, that's what matters.

God expects the same from us.  He knows that we're not going to be perfect every second of every day.  He knows there's going to be sin in our lives.  What does He ask of us?  "To act justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  There's no way that we can live without sin.  No mortal human being can do this, because of the sin Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden.  But we can try.  We can live these words, we can instill them in our children, knowing that when we do mess up, Christ came to the world to save us from those very sins. 

He is the very reason we can do our best.

Dear Heavenly Father, we know that we are not without sin.  Day by day we strive to do our best, working to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you.  But there are times when we just can't do it.  Thank you for sending Your Son, our Savior, to save us from those sins.  Thank you for helping us do our best.  In Your name we pray, Amen.