Thoughts on my Christian duty

I have been thinking about my duty as a Christian, a person who endeavors to be Christ like in her life. Of course, Christ gave the commandments to love the Lord fully and to love your neighbor as yourself (your neighbor being pretty much any member of the human race), but I was wondering how else I can pursue my duty in the Christian life. I am sure there are many others but two have popped up in my life lately.

My eldest son is studying theology this year and one of the books he is using is the Westminster Catechism. In today's lesson it talked about our duty as a Christian according to the Bible and references Malachi 6:8
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Be just
Love mercy
Walk humbly with God

Those certainly seem worthwhile to pursue.

And my middle son has been memorizing from 1 Thessalonians 5 which says, in part:
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,

My! How different the world would be if we could always live by those instructions, regardless of our chosen faith.

The "be joyful always" part certainly fits in with my Morethanfine mentality, although it is sometimes beyond my personal ability to achieve---same with giving thanks in all circumstances. But then that takes me to the 3rd lesson God has been giving me lately, from John 15.
He is the vine and we are the branches and apart from Him we can do nothing. Lots of times I find myself trying to do something for Him or make something happen for Him or insisting that I will be joyful and thankful all the time and then feeling angry and sad over the way someone has treated me or someone I love. I realize I just cannot be Morethanfine unless my branch is firmly rooted in the vine, nor can I be just, merciful, loving and humble without Him.

Apart from Him I can do nothing.

Barb