Micah's Righteousness

Dear brethren,
Today's readings:

Judges 17, 18; Psalm 21; Acts 1

Judges 17:13 (KJV)
Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Or so he thinks! It is interesting how often we can assure ourselves with our own ideas and conceptions. And here was a man who had a house of gods, complete with graven images and an Ephod! A complete and serious violation of what God had commanded (Ex 20:2-5) and yet he had the audacity to say "the Lord will do me good"!

Such is the sad state of affairs in man when he ignores God. As one of the recurring themes in Judges aptly states, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." and it was not the problem of the lack of a physical king. As we would read later in 1Sam 8, it was basically a lack of respect and adherence to God's authority.
And the sad fact of the matter is, it is still happening today, even in the self-professed Christians of the world at large.
Micah can consecrate a priest for himself. One can have a grand church building, eloquent preachers, throngs of church goers, huge and massive benevolent projects, for that matter, even share the same bible, sing the same songs, and profess the same Jesus Christ as Lord. But yet will not follow the entire counsel of God, will not teach and practice how one truly becomes a Christian, how is one better than the likes of Micah? Isn't that merely doing what which is right in our own eyes? Again and again, we want to remind ourselves of the sobering reminder from our Lord Jesus Himself in Mat 7:21-23.
On the other hand, those that rightly profess Christ, how is that profession manifested? Or are we merely resting on our laurels, thumping our chests and wagging tongues at others?
Let us not deceived - there can be no righteousness and pleasure before God, separate from His Word. There can be no patting of backs with any amount of "good' that is not authorised by God, neither can one assure himself of having obeyed the gospel yet not willing to put one's shoulder to the good work.
Let us be subject wholly to the authority and pattern of God knowing we are new creatures created in Christ unto good works (Eph 2:10) and continue to practice such and teach others so.