A Life Worthy

Category: Psalm 51

  • Inner Parts One-a-Day Monday 9/24/18

    Inner Parts One-a-Day Monday 9/24/18

    Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place (Psalm 51:6).

    Why can’t God leave well enough alone?  He has the surface—I look the part, act the part—anyone on the outside would think I’m a reasonably-well-functioning man of God.

    Does he really need the core of my being?

    It seems a little extreme, don’t you think?  I mean, a man deserves his privacy; this, “Openness with your feelings” thing only goes so far.

    Nope

    He wants it all.  He wants me

    and you

    and us

    to reflect his wisdom and his love and his very nature all the way to the bone.  He wants us, in our very essence, to be like him. And he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.  Not if it takes all eternity.

    Thank God, Beloved.

    Happy Monday

  • From Birth and Before One-a-Day Friday  9/21/18

    From Birth and Before One-a-Day Friday  9/21/18

    Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5).

    Well, there’s a comforting thought.

    As if this week wasn’t hard enough,  I‘ve gotta get hit with the concept that I’ve been sinful for as long as I’ve been me.

    Still…there it is.

    It’s not like sin is just a one-time, or even sometime, thing.  David can’t say, “Oops, I slipped.  Apart from this episode, I’ve pretty much been perfection.”  Even David—giant killing, Psalm writing, man-after-God’s-own-heart David—knows that sin seems to be woven into the very fabric of his nature.  He doesn’t even stand a chance of standing on his own. It’s like fighting cancer with cough drops.

    Poor David.

    Poor me.

    Poor us.

    And yet God, because of who he is, loved us anyway.

    And so God, because he loved us, didn’t want us to die in sin, as we were born in sin.

    And then God, because he didn’t want us to die, died in our place.

    And now God, because he died for us, raises us to life in him.

    And this God, who had raised you to life, calls you Beloved.

    I guess it’s not such a bad way to end your week, after all.

    Happy Friday, Beloved.

  • Only You One-a-Day Thursday  9/20/18

    Only You One-a-Day Thursday  9/20/18

    Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and righteous when you judge (Psalm 51:4).

    So, that driver you had the little road rage incident with, you know, the one who obviously saw that you were there but cut you off anyway, the one you chased for three miles so you could give him the evil eye and the fancy finger—the one who turned out to be an octogenarian grandma totally oblivious to your righteous wrath?

    Yeah, that was Jesus.

    The cop you lied to to get out of that ticket for multiple unsafe lane changes that you made in order to catch up to the aforementioned Granny-Who-Cannot-Drive?

    Also, as it happens, Jesus.

    The supermarket checker who got written up because her drawer didn’t balance because you kept the money she gave you because she can’t count and gave you seriously inaccurate change?

    That would be the Lord of the Universe.

    The scores of freakish folk you mocked on the “People of Walmart” page?

    Your savior…each and every one.

    I’m assuming that you’re not in David’s league here, that adultery and assassination are absent from your repertoire of iniquity.  It doesn’t really matter. Every sin—big or small in your perception—is ultimately committed against Jesus. He said as much in the parable of the sheep and the goats:

    Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me….whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me (Matt 25).

    Is it really such a stretch to say that whatever we do to the least of these we do to him?

    David realized this—eventually.  It got his head straight so that he was ready for real repentance.

    Fortunately, Beloved, you have no need for repentance today.  This is merely an academic exercise for you, as your conscience is clear.

    Well, you know, except for…

    Hmm…

    Happy Thursday, Beloved

  • No Hiding One-a-Day Wednesday  9/19/18

    No Hiding One-a-Day Wednesday  9/19/18

    For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me (Psalm 51:3).

    There are only two people you can’t hide your sin from.

    As it happens, they are the only two people who matter.

    Hmm…that may be more than enough to chew on for the middle of the week.

    So chew, Beloved.

    Happy Wednesday