The Uniform Code of Godly Behavior

“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)

I was drafted

Shortly after graduating from high school, a letter arrived that commanded me to report without fail to a certain address on a certain date; I had been drafted into the United States Army!

On the day I reported

I was told to lift my right hand and repeat an oath to obey and perform according to a new set of military rules—there was no wiggle room, only absolute commitment to doing what I was now told to do. Period!

My new identity

I was now a private-first-class person. I was given a selective service number, a new haircut, new olive-drab colored clothes, boots, an M-14 rifle, and a set of dog tags to wear around my neck at all times.

I began an intense training course

I now began what was called "basic training." I was taught how to behave according to a new set of rules called “The Uniform Code of Military Justice.” This set of rules was to be adhered to 100 percent without exception. If I disobeyed any of them in any way, shape, or form, I would be disciplined immediately with specified punishments such as receiving an “Article 15,” which meant that I’d get restricted pay, extra duty, and be confined to headquarters. All of us new recruits were thoroughly drilled about these rules, and we fearfully adhered to them! Over the next few weeks of basic trading, they became second nature. We knew what to wear, how to march, how to salute, and how to live and act as members of the United States Army. We were soldiers!

God told us how to behave

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are soldiers in God’s army. We don’t belong to ourselves but to God, and we need to adopt that identity. The verse at the top (Micah 6:8) tells us exactly how we must behave. It could be called the “Uniform Code of Godly Behavior.”

“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).  

God gives three commands of behavior to obey

1.     To act justly. “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isa. 1:17)

2.     To love mercy. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

3.     To walk humbly with your God. “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-3)

Therefore

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” (Col. 3:23)

“For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” (Rom. 14:8)

“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37)

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2).

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 15:7)