If doing justice is the action, then loving kindness, or loving “mercy” (KJV, NIV), is the attitude of the heart. This is warm-hearted compassion. God calls His people to correct injustice and promote righteousness not as a grudging performance of duty but as a glad action. As we see so clearly in the New Testament, love “rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6, emphasis added), and God Himself loves cheerful generosity (2 Cor. 9:7).

Unless we delight to share with others the pardon, love, and compassion our heavenly Father has granted us, how can we claim to truly know God?

Unless we delight to share with others the pardon, love, and compassion our heavenly Father has granted us, how can we claim to truly know God? (See 1 John 2:9–11; 3:10–18; 4:20.)

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This article has been adapted from the sermon “What God Requires” by Alistair Begg.