Service = Perfect Freedom? Really?

We give you hearty thanks for the rest of the past night

and for the gift of a new day, with its opportunities of pleasing you.

Grant that we may so pass its hours in the perfect freedom of your service,

that at eventide we may again give thanks to you.  Amen.

— #676 in The United Methodist Hymnal, current edition

Whoa, run that by me again.

Grant that we may so pass its hours in the perfect freedom of your service…really?

Really.

“God has shown you what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”  (Micah 6:8)

Do justly.  Love mercy.  Walk humbly with your God.

What does “do justly” look like for you today?

How can you “love mercy” right now?

If you “walk humbly with your God,” how will you interact with others?

Those three add up to perfect freedom for us?  Really?

And God nods and adds, “And not just for you alone, either.  Really.”