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
O man … O woman … what does the Lord require of us? Don’t you think we should sit up and take notice of this? This is a major announcement of what God is looking for in those who desire to follow His will. Isn’t that you and me?
by Marti Fischer
In early 1973, during Operation Homecoming, America rejoiced as 591 prisoners of war were released from captivity in Southeast Asia. Among the celebratory moments, Tony Orlando stood before a crowd of veterans at a Bob Hope show, singing Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. The response was overwhelming—cheers, standing ovations—except for one POW sitting in the front row, motionless and silent.
After the performance, Tony approached this soldier, asking if he enjoyed the show. The man, with quiet dignity, replied: “I loved it. My shoulders were dislocated as a POW, so I couldn’t raise my arms to clap. But if you’d seen my feet, you’d have noticed I was tapping my big toe.”
Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4
Have you ever known anyone whose soul doesn’t stand up straight within him/her? How about you? Has your soul ever not stood up straight? What about right now? Is your soul upright within you or is it leaning over a little bit?
When I first met my wife, Marti, she was not a professional Christian. She didn’t know one Bible translation from another, and it didn’t matter. She could open any Bible to any place and find something meaningful for herself and for those around her.
Marti met Christ through a rather bizarre series of events that included dating the backslidden son of a Baptist pastor. It was 1970 and she was a “stewardess” in an era when it was still okay to use that term. The job still retained a little of its “coffee, tea, or me” glamour. Long fake lashes and sculptured hairstyles were part of the standard uniform of the day.
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
Remember the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”? That kind of rules out hatred, murder, and a host of evil things that you would certainly not ever wish upon yourself in your right mind. This goes hand-in-hand with returning good for evil, because who would wish evil upon themselves? If someone is acting in a hateful or vengeful way towards you, you would counter that with treating them well, because that’s how you would want to be treated.
This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:3
Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20
“Is there any reason why you couldn’t pray and invite Jesus Christ into your heart right now?” It’s a question Marti asked four or five times a day while on the job as a flight attendant in the early 1970s, and in three years she says she never received anything but a positive response. As a new Christian herself, she and a fellow flight attendant who was also a new Christian prayed before every flight for God to show them one person to lead to the Lord, and one who was already a Christian to encourage them. That’s also why they would purposely bid for the short flights up and down the West coast so they could reach the maximum number of people in a day. And there were always two reasons they gave why the opportunity was “now.” 1) They were already 35,000 feet closer to heaven so why not now? — and 2) the Lord was coming back any minute. Are you ready?
Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” Habakkuk 2:2
The Jesus Movement was all about the message. The message was simply about Jesus and how His gospel related to the deep, unresolved needs of a generation for love, meaning, community, peace and justice. The “Jesus Freaks” who carried this message melded the freedom of the sixties and the Jesus of the gospels into a new way of looking at Christianity. They were people with very distinct views of Christ and Christianity. They epitomized a movement that vitalized the Church and blew fresh air throughout the culture.
I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard-post. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how He will answer my complaint. Habakkuk 2:1
Let’s return to Habakkuk, that prophet out of Judah who complained to God about His plan to punish the Jewish nation because of its idolatry by turning the vicious wrath of the Babylonians on them. After complaining to God how he did not think it was fair to punish them with a horde of people that were more evil than they were, he decided to climb his watchtower and wait for God’s reply.
[Note: We are republishing this Catch to accompany the Podcast that we now have to go with it. (See below)]
by Marti Fischer
Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:
“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”
by Marti Fischer
Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:
“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”
John Fischer The Catch 