He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
As we are now early into 2026, you may find yourself having great expectations for this new year. I think we all love to see great improvements and even spectacular events that could bless us, and if you read your Bible, you will know that our God is more than capable of doing such things. However, it has been my experience with the great majority of people I have known that they struggle with making changes or having anything in their circumstances change. Fear of the unknown or breaking out of old habits seems to be a challenge for most of us; our Creator knows this about us, and He has a remedy. The very best way for us to see change in our life and circumstances is to walk with Jesus Christ closely every day. We need to seek truth from Him in our daily Bible reading and then draw close in our relationship by prayer, worship and obedience. It is the presence of Jesus Christ and close fellowship with Him that brings us peace, joy and comfort as life changes. How we walk with the Lord in fellowship each day directly relates to how we will respond to the challenges and changes of life as they come. Today, are we close with the Lord or distracted and distant? This will determine how well we do in life! The above verse in Micah instructs God’s people to “do justice” each day, which means we treat all people as we would want to be treated. We are also to “love kindness”, which means we devote ourselves to practicing care for others. Finally, we are to “walk humbly” with our God, which means we trust entirely on Him for all things, and we allow Him to lead us in all matters. My friends, this is far more challenging than it sounds as it requires us to quit thinking only about ourselves and what we want and to instead focus on blessings others and honoring God; this is practical application of the two greatest commandments that Jesus taught about loving God and others. In this ever increasingly narcistic and selfish world we live in, it takes deliberate effort to keep our focus on the right things as scripture reveals. If we find ourselves more preoccupied with what we want and less on God and the people He has given us to love, let us repent now and get back in close fellowship with the Lord. I guarantee you it is the blessed life and will lead you to having your greatest spiritual year of your life!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek