The Psalmist continues: “Who shall dwell on your holy hill … [the person] who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.” (Psalm 15:5)
The person being described in this Psalm is one who is absolutely faithful to their word. Their dealings are always upright, trustworthy, and honorable. They’re always on time and committed to following through with what they promised.
Even when their promises require sacrifice and personal pain, they won’t back out. I don’t know about you, but I’ve thrown the towel in when the going gets tough.
On top of their faithfulness, this person is uncompromising in integrity. Even when they stand to gain financial profit, they never cut corners, they never make back-room deals, and they never take advantage of the weak.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t match that standard. Sure, we might not have done anything “that bad” to land us in federal prison, but can we say with honesty that we’ve never taken advantage of another?
Can we say with certainty that we’ve never cut corners at work and that we give 100% of honest labor each day? Can we say with confidence that we’ve never made questionable decisions that result in our gain?
If you’re honest, you have to throw your hands up and say, “I quit! I can’t do it! This standard of righteousness is so far from the reality of my life.”
Think about what I’m going to write next – that despair is a good thing. Why? Because if you think that you can dwell on God’s holy hill by your own merit, you’re going to crush yourself. You need to give up all hope in your own righteousness and rely only on Christ.
This doesn’t give us a license to sin (Romans 6:1-2), but I’m going to cover our responsibility next Wednesday. For today, I want you to meditate on this question: are you trying to dwell on God’s holy hill by your own merit?