He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. -- Micah 6:8
This is the verse that Uncle Timothy from HealthServe mentioned during his orientation talk. What does it mean to "do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God?" in the present day today? When we see suffering and injustice, how should we react? To love kindness (or in some translations, mercy) and respond with kindness and mercy? Will these lead us to walk humbly with God?
There were times when I question the documentaries which were made about migrant workers and shown on TV - "Are these problems really real, or are they hyped up to gain viewership ratings?" "Singaporeans aren't that bad right, this can't be true." Of course I wasn't doubting the reality of such injustice, but the degree to which it was real. These are indeed childish selfish thoughts.
The STEP program has given me this opportunity to be in the field to experience for myself what reality is like. This has been a real eye-opener and the stories of migrant workers are as real as it can get. The injustice they face is uncalled for - yes, companies are trying to cut corners and survive, but our migrant workers are humans too, they too have families to feed and lives to care for. This injustice need not be restricted to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but to our peers, fellow species in general, and also to our physical environment.
To respond to injustice with kindness and mercy is what God has called us for. In the talk on Missiology, Dr. Andrew Peh mentioned something which changed my perception of mission work: we are essentially not doing God's work for Him, but doing His work WITH him. God granted us the privilege of partnering Him in carrying out His work. We should bear this in mind as we reach out to the society as followers of God because it keeps us (or at least myself) from harbouring self-righteous thoughts. I guess this is what it means to walk humbly with God and to exercise humility in the work we do.
Michelle Quak
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