Last week I started a series on Psalm 15 (grab a Bible to read along). The simple question the Psalmist asks is: “Who deserves to live in the presence of God?” The writer goes on to describe a list of qualities this person should possess if they want to dwell on God’s holy hill.
We fail the first test quickly: “he who walks blamelessly and does what is right.” We should all know from Sunday school that we fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23) and only Christ can present as blameless (Colossians 1:22).
It’s pretty obvious that a pattern of failure is emerging, but don’t get discouraged. Christ measured up on your behalf precisely because you would fail. Moreover, He gave you His Spirit so you can continue to pursue righteousness and become like Him. Let’s continue…
“And speaks truth in his heart.” Notice how this is internal. We usually associate speaking truth with external words, and we’ll learn about that next week from verse 3, but this quality is about talking to yourself.
Righteous living starts with the heart, and this verse tells us that we’re in a constant conversation with our own heart. What are you saying to you?
Everyday you’ll have dozens, maybe even hundreds, of opportunities to have a “heart-to-heart” conversation with yourself (literally!). What is being said in those conversations?
Are you telling yourself to desire what God calls beautiful? Are you telling yourself to pursue what God declares honorable? Whenever I read this verse, I’m reminded of my own failure. There are many conversations when I lie to my heart, and my words and actions follow.
But here’s the Good News. God provides us with the Truth, both written and in person. His Word (2 Timothy 3:16) and His Son (John 14:6) are available to us every day for each of those “heart-to-heart” conversations.