I have been studying the book of Micah quite a bit lately. I suppose part of my fascination with this book is the similarities that can be drawn between Micah's world and our world. Micah, according to Daniel J. Simundson, felt compassion for the poor and dispossessed, and held the leaders responsible for their suffering. Add to this the picture of a society where the rich and powerful used their influence to exploit the vulnerable and to create even greater inequalities of wealth and influence. Sounds quite similar to today.
I think about these similarities and I think about Micah being ostracized from his community and eventually killed, Jesus was killed for his stand against these same things in his day, and now you and I are still faced with these same things. I think about our definition of evil and sin. I think about how I define those things as separation from God. Not that anything is evil because of what it is, but in that it separates us from God. What would our church, our community look like if everyone worked as hard at drawing close to God as they do at separating themselves from God?