Opening Prayer
Dear Lord, open our ears to hear Your Word this morning. Help us understand what You want from us. Amen.
Scripture: Micah 6:6-8
“What can I bring to the Lord? Should I bring the best calves to offer Him? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? Will He be pleased with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should I offer my firstborn child for the wrong things I have done?
“No! The Lord has shown you what is good. And what does the Lord want from you? To do what is right. To love being kind. And to walk humbly with your God.”
What This Means
Imagine you broke your mom’s favorite lamp while playing ball inside. You feel terrible. So you think: “Maybe if I clean my whole room, she won’t be mad. Maybe if I give her all my allowance. Maybe if I promise to be perfect forever…”
But what does your mom actually want? She wants you to say you’re sorry, to tell the truth about what happened, and to be more careful next time. She doesn’t want your money or your perfect promises. She wants you—honest and humble.
That’s what’s happening in this Bible story. The people of Israel had done wrong things, and they were trying to figure out how to make it up to God. “Should we bring thousands of sheep? Rivers of oil? Would that be enough?” They kept offering bigger and bigger things, thinking they could buy their way back to God.
But God said something surprising: “I don’t want your stuff. I want you. I want you to treat people fairly. I want you to love being kind—not just do kind things because you have to, but actually enjoy helping others. And I want you to walk with Me, not strutting around like you’re so great, but humbly, like a child walking beside their father.”
Here’s the amazing part: We can’t do this perfectly. We’re not always fair. We don’t always love being kind. We’re not always humble. But Jesus did all of this perfectly for us. And because He did, God doesn’t look at our failures—He looks at Jesus. And then He puts His Spirit in us to help us become more like Jesus, little by little.
Let’s Talk About It
Eberley: Why do you think people try to “buy” their way back to God with impressive offerings instead of just being honest and humble? What’s the difference between doing good things to earn God’s love and doing them because you already have it?
Sonja: The verse says to “love being kind.” What’s the difference between being kind because you have to and being kind because you actually want to? Can you think of a time when you really enjoyed being kind to someone?
Dahlia & Freddy: God says to walk humbly with Him—like holding your daddy’s hand on a walk. Do you like walking with Daddy? God wants to walk with you too!
Remember This
God doesn’t want your stuff. He wants you—doing right, loving kindness, and walking humbly with Him.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that You don’t want rivers of oil or thousands of sheep. You want us. Help us do what’s right today, help us love being kind, and help us walk humbly beside You—holding Your hand like little children. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Memory Verse
“Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.” — Micah 6:8