Scripture Read: Psalm 101, 102
Key Verse: Psalm 101:2-3
“I will sing of steadfast love and justice to you, O Lord, I will make music. I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house: I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”
Observation:
In John 14:23 Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Because David greatly desires this relationship with God, he’s cleaning house in Psalm 101. Declaring his intention to live with integrity in his home and community, he sets the mark for his own behavior – nothing but steadfast love and justice. He draws a line in the sand regarding those he hangs out with, his employees and those he will do business with. He is ready to call it like he sees it and he doesn’t want to see anything that is worthless. He will not put up with deceit, slander, gossip, liars, arrogance, or unfaithfulness. He knows that those who do are missing a great opportunity – the promise of a relationship with the same God David has prepared himself for.
Application:
Is there room for steadfast love and justice in my life? Can I weigh all my relationships in light of God’s desires and when they don’t measure up can I clean house with the confidence of David? Am I confident that my relationship with my God, my obedience to his word, and his promise to me are the source of that steadfast love and justice? If I do not call out worthless behavior I am enabling those around me to live outside of the abundance of his love. Notice the word “steadfast” right there with “love.” A love of this kind requires stick-to-it-ness. No waffling. When I am courageous enough to love someone in this way I have to stick to it or they just won’t get it. Love and enabling cannot co-exist.
Prayer:
Thank you for your steadfast love for me, God. You stuck to it until you won my heart and you will not relent. Give me courage to call it like it is and not to enable those I love to live in ways that do not honor you. Help me stick to it because you love them more than I.
By Bonnie 217staff team
Much time is spent trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up and how you are going to accomplish it but often not nearly enough time is spent figuring out who you want to be when you grow up and what you need to do to accomplish it. It’s not that knowing what you want to do in life, setting your focus on it and disciplining yourself to achieve your goal aren’t important (they are), but it is just that it is not what should define you. Who you are, your character and integrity, ought to be the bedrock upon which your reputation is built. Yet often times we don’t give much thought or care for who we are or what we are becoming. We just the the currents of life drag us along making us become whatever the circumstances mold us to be without care for what we ought to be, giving up parts of our souls to accomplish for what we thought was necessary in the moment. Before you know it, you may have everything you thought you desired in life but you no longer recognize yourself or how you got there. Then when the world crashes in on you and everything you spent your life working to accomplish lays in ruins, you realize how naked you truly were a shell of the person you once were. But when you begin the journey to figure out who you want to be when you grow up, oh the places you will go. Your character will no longer be a accidental but a work of intentionality. You will seek out the One who made you to find out how he made you to be. You will fall in love with his Word because it will give you direction so you will no longer a rudderless vessel on the river of life being tossed to and fro. You will be built up on the solid foundation. So when the world crashes down and the flood waters rise, you will be able to stand firm in your integrity. So no matter if you accomplish all the goals or not, you and others will know who you are no matter what you station in life may be. You will be able to stand firm in who you are no matter what you may be doing like Joseph as a favored son, slave, prisoner or prince. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matthew 16:26