Psalm 15

Good Morning,

Psalm 15 (New International Version)
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

I read these verses today and thought to myself, "Uh, oh! How in the world could I EVER dwell in the sanctuary of God? How could I possibly expect to live oh His holy hill?" Now, of course, in my own right and in my own "righteousness" (quotes there because I have NONE of my own!) I would never qualify to "dwell in" God's sanctuary. No way in the world! But then, as I thought deeper, it came to me that not one person on the planet would qualify to "live on" God's holy hill. I mean, look at this list the Psalmist gives us to qualify: walk is blameless, does what is righteous, speaks the truth, no slander, does no wrong to a neighbor, no slurs on anyone, despises vile people (well, at least that one's pretty easy!), honors those who fear God, keeps his oath in ALL circumstances, lends money with no "usury", accepts no bribes against the innocent. I don't know about you, but I surely fail in at least a few of these, even today when I feel I'm walking with the Lord. It boils down to the absolute fact that none of us is righteous in and of ourselves.

Now, of course, we know that all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ into our lives as Lord and Savior do not have to depend on our own righteousness in anything at all. We have the right to call on the very righteousness of Jesus; as He makes us righteous in spite of ourselves. Only in His, Jesus', righteousness...(goodness)...can we expect to be qualified in the sense that we read in these verses today.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy about that. Because, of course, I WANT to be able to dwell in God's sanctuary and to live on His holy hill!

It's a good time, I think, to stop and to realize that Jesus has given us even more than simply our salvation, as if that weren't enough! He has given us HIS righteousness to have before God the Father. So, we can be confident that we do, indeed, have that dwelling place with God, that we do not have to actually BE that perfectly righteous person, of which there was only one...Jesus.

Hallelujah!

Love, peace, and blessings,

David