I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise. I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? (Psalm 101:1-2 NIV)
One of the troubling things as a Christian is that we still live in the world and we still deal with the realities of sin on a daily basis. It doesn’t matter how strong you are for the Lord – the fact is this – until we get to heaven – WE STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH SIN.
I heard this story that illustrates this point: A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn't find a space with a meter. So he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled the block 100 times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES."
When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note. "I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION."
To lead a sinless life is hard for any person. If it’s not impossible, it’s next to impossible, but of course, there are certain things we can do to help us lead a better life.
I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. (Psalm 101:2 NIV)
So… how can I live a blameless life? There are 3 ways:
1- Focus on the Lord
2- Have nothing to do with evil
3- Cast away pride
I. FOCUS ON THE LORD
I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise. (Psalm 101:1, NIV)
I love to sing loud (sometimes too loud for others around me). But its not just singing – its singing about and to the Lord.
The Psalmist was focusing on the Lord while singing.
Ephesians 5:19-20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Any time you sing to the Lord from your heart, no matter how it sounds, it is pleasing to Him and will increase your devotion to Him and help you to lead a better life.
There is more than one way, of course to focus on the Lord.
Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
We focus on the Lord by studying His Word and by praying! Many people believe in the inspired Word of God but they don’t read it or study it!
As I write this – I have worship songs playing in the background and I have my Bible open because I want to focus on God.
An African woman was asked if she enjoyed reading her new Bible. She replied, “Sir, I am not reading this Book. This Book is reading me!”
God’s Word does that and even more.
Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence: “It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said "Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.”
DON’T LOSE YOUR FOCUS! Keep your eyes on the Lord through scripture, prayer and singing.
II. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EVIL
I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; Iwill cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord. (Psalm 101:3-4, 8 NIV)
Thomas Carlyle: “The greatest security against sin is to be shocked at its presence.”
But the problem in America is that we are no longer shocked by the presence of sin. Anything goes in America and it’s on TV, the internet, at the movies, etc. What was once only seen at the movie show and rated “R” is now almost every day viewing on TV. It’s no wonder that kids get bad ideas and do bad things today. It’s all glorified on TV as being normal behavior: drinking, drugs, pre-marital sex, the gay lifestyle, shooting, killing, etc.
I Thessalonians 5:22 “Avoid every kind of evil.”
If we want to stay as blameless as possible in the sight of God then we must avoid evil wherever it is and every kind of evil.
III. CAST AWAY PRIDE
Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate.No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. (Psalm 101:5, 7 NIV)
Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
One man said he owed his success to something learned from his Dominicker rooster. That rooster was a powerful fighter. He could fly higher and cut deeper than any other rooster in the neighborhood. But he often lost fights against weaker roosters. His trouble was that right in the middle of a fight, he’d stop to crow. Any time we stop to crow about ourselves in life we’re headed for certain trouble.
Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
People who are totally sold on themselves often find themselves falling into some kind of trouble after a period of time.
I Peter 5:5 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Preacher Dwight L. Moody said: “God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.”
Augustine said: “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
John Newton who wrote the song, “Amazing Grace” had the right attitude. He said, “When I get to heaven I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be, to see many people there whom I did not expect to see—the second wonder will be, to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there.”
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. Can’t we all honestly say those words and sing that song? And this is also the way we should live.
Blameless doesn’t mean perfection because we can never reach perfection. If there is any perfection, it is in Christ. And our perfection is in Him.
Because of Christ, we stand blameless before God. But while we live in the flesh we must strive to live a blameless life as much as possible.
We must work hard to: 1- Focus on the Lord 2- Have nothing to do with evil 3- Cast away pride
No comments:
Post a Comment