The prophet Micah preached to the common people of Judah. His message was given before Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria and before Judah was taken captive by Babylon. He spoke of justice, not as retribution but as restoration as justice in biblical language and culture was restorative. Consider his words in chapter 6, verse 8, “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” (paraphrased, NIV). It is a beautiful purpose statement, looks great on our refrigerators, and is simply stated, but is it simple to live out? Apparently not for the people of God, for their inability to walk this out would result in their captivity. In stark contrast to Micah’s plea, the people of God did not act justly or mercifully toward outsiders and the marginalized, and they allowed pride and idolatry to cloud their devotion to a Holy God.Overlay that on the words of Jesus to us in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus was asked pointedly, what’s our priority here and He answered from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6), to love God, love people and He added, love your neighbor as yourself. Sound familiar?When we love God completely, others compassionately, and ourselves correctly, we are empowered to act and respond in ways that are restorative, we are generously merciful and we take on a posture of humility before God and one another. The two most prevalent sins in Scripture are idolatry and injustice and both Micah and Matthew (Jesus) give us the antidote.Love God. Love People. If discovering our purpose is our focus, this hits the nail on the head.