Psalm 15 1 Lord, who shall dwell [temporarily] in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell [permanently] on Your holy hill? 2 He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart, 3 He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
In my best Brian Regan voice: "that's a hard rule!" Integrity is tough and I haven't mastered it yet. I'm sure its a sign of advancing age, but I'm beginning to find it easier to not live for the approval of men, but to truly desire God's approval and that obviously easier. Furthermore for a variety of reasons, I'm beginning to feel more compelled to not simply live uprightly in my heart, but to boldly call others to do the same. I find it frustrating when people don't display integrity especially in the church. Failure to be different than the world is to "put a bowl over our lamp" (Matt 5:15) or to lose our saltiness (Matt 5:13). That makes the church irrelevant and Christ had some harsh words for an irrelevant church - it literally makes Jesus vomit (Rev 3:14-22)!
I can't, however, hold everyone else up to a standard that I myself do not obtain. So, its imperative that I grow closer to God, learn to truly walk blamelessly in His sight, and then I may be of use to Him.
Lord forgive me where I fail to love you with my whole heart. Forgive me for not yielding control of every aspect of my life to you. Cleanse me and make me more like you so that I may be of use in furthering your kingdom while you choose to leave me here on earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment