Micah 6: 6&8
What should I bring before the LORD when I come to bow before God on high? Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. [CSB]
and verse 8 in the ICB Bible says: The Lord has told you what is good. He has told you what he wants from you: Do what is right to other people. Love being kind to others. And live humbly, trusting your God.
How astounding and simple that the response in vs 8, to the question in vs 6 is to: do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with him? I find this so beautiful in the sense that as much as it is a defining answer, it is also a thought provoking one, and one that we are invited to respond to. Do our hearts long to do what is right to others, do we want to love and show kindness and do we desire to walk humbly with our God, trusting him in all things?
Let us take a brief closer look at these 3 words – justice, kindness and humbly:
JUSTICE is just behaviour or treatment and its the condition of being morally content and fair.
HUMBLY, if one acts humbly, we act in a way that shows we do not consider ourselves as better than others. Someone once said that showing humility is not thinking of yourself less, its not thinking of yourself at all.
KINDNESS is the quality of being friendly, generous and compassionate or being generous, helpful and caring about other people.
This year Father God has gripped my heart with the reality that one small act of kindness can change the world and it has turned into a desire to be part of sharing kindness with others. I have had the privilege of collaborating and building a relationship with an amazing foundation. I have the wonderful honour of constantly seeing the remarkable opportunities another NPO gives itself to. I have been so grateful to meet and partner in prayer with a beautiful village for children and I am blessed beyond measure to now work and give what I’ve got for a phenomenal non-profit organisation. This year for Advent, I would like to introduce you to these groups of people and perhaps give you an opportunity to respond to God’s word to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly WITH God. Perhaps you can even share some kindness this festive season. Let’s be WITH Jesus and BE Jesus as we prepare and anticipate to CELEBRATE Jesus.
Robin Hood Foundation
The Robin Hood Foundation (RHF) are a very special group of people! I had the privilege to meet their co-ordinator early this year, and what started as a great motivation for me to de-clutter my home, turned into a gift that kept on giving.
I became aware of their “Share your treasure” campaign which encouraged participants to clear one unnecessary thing on the first of the month, two on the second, three on the third, and so on for the entire month and donate these items to RHF, so that they could re-distribute the treasure to those in need. As the marketing co-ordinator for the school I was working at, I proposed that our school register as a group entry and see where we could go with it. Well we had about 10 families who jumped on board and donated so many items towards this campaign, that we were awarded third place, and won a cash prize, which we decided to pay forward and give to the Vulinquondo Creche. Compendium Games jumped on board as we approached them to order and purchase educational games for the creche (at their request) and donated an additional R500 worth of games to the creche. RHF opened their generous hearts even more and donated a back pack for each child at the creche filled with treasure! I was honoured to be able to deliver and hand over the educational toys and games and hand out these amazing back packs to this precious group of children. It was one of the most fulfilling and satisfying days of my life.
So in essence, the RHF accept donations from those members of society who have what they need, and re-distribute these goods to those who find themselves in circumstances where their needs are great. I’m reminded of Acts chapter 2:45 where the first church is growing and the believers are all together, with everything in common, and they went one step further – they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. What an example to look up to, what an example to follow. And they were following the example and learning from the teachings of Jesus.
This Advent, I encourage you to celebrate the birth and arrival of Jesus, the King of Kings. He came as a servant, humbly born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough. There was no clean hospital room or fluffy blanket or comfortable crib. He came to reconcile man to God. He came because of his great love for you and me. And he came at Christmas.
Happy Third Advent everybody!
Love from my home to yours
xxx
Head over to the RHF website https://robinhoodfoundation.co.za/ to read more about the amazing campaigns and activities that they are involved in and ways you can show kindness to them.
hope of heart 