David asks a great question(s) of God when he says, “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” And then he’s able to answer his own question in the rest of the Psalm 15, “He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent he who does these things will never be shaken.” That is to the point! As a Christian, does your walk reflect integrity, righteousness, and truth? Do you despise evil…sin? Why or why not? I asked a Christian the other day a question. The question was, “What defines you as a Christian?” It wasn’t supposed to be a trick question. The person said, “Grace.” I love grace and it is crucial to our walk and our salvation but it wasn’t the answer I was looking for. I asked others and I received answers like “mercy”, “love”, “forgiveness”, and the like. All good answers and all critical to who we are in Christ…which was the answer I was looking for. Let me explain. As Christians, don’t neglect the obvious. Jesus is the reason we are Christians. His life gave us life. David asked God who could dwell on His holy hill…Jesus is the model of integrity, righteousness, and truth. He stood against evil. His foundation was God. Who are we to model? Jesus! Peter tells us, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter 1:13-16) Are you being holy? Another definition of holy is to be separate. Are you living in such a way that your life is separate from that of the world? I hope so. Remember, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:4-13) Walk as Christ calls you to walk. Be blessed.
