I will sing of loyalty and justice; to You, O LORD, I will sing. I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who are faithless; it shall not cling to me. Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil... I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so that they may live with me; whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. No one who practices deceit will remain in my house; no one who speaks lies will stand in my presence. (Psalm 101:1-4;6-7)
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A pure heart is the first step to experiencing a pure family, city, state, and world.
Today's Psalm was written by King David. Here, David is determined to maintain the purity and righteousness of his empire by seeking to first maintain it in himself; to discipline his fleshly bend towards wickedness.
Today's world - much like David's empire - is in dire need for purity and righteousness.
And rightly so, we - as followers of Christ - want to do something about this. I mean, let's face it, we live in a world that is completely contrary to the truth that we have come to know, love, and follow. Though this desire to bring about change is real - and honorable - we tend to seek it in the wrong way...
Instead of allowing purity to flow powerfully through our inner being, we rush forth with outward pure(ish) actions and flood the world with pure(ish) words.
Now do not get me wrong - I am not saying that we shouldn't live out our lives with pure actions and speak with pure words. I am saying, however, that we tend to neglect the power of inner purity and blamelessness in our pursuit to extend outer purity and blamelessness.
To us, it often seems much more efficient and faster to speak out loud what the world is doing wrong and how it could be fixed than for us to simply live out the meekness and humility that proclaim a pure life.
But today, let's recognize what King David did long ago.
In order to spread purity to his empire, David sought to make it true and authentic in himself.
"I will sing of loyalty and justice; to You, O LORD, I will sing." (v. 1)
David will sing.
And this denotes a constant singing; meaning that it was often in solitude with the Lord. This is because Who he is singing to is not the world; but to God. He wants to deepen the loyalty of his empire through first deepening his own loyalty and understanding of God's justice.
I will study the way that is blameless...I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who are faithless; it shall not cling to me. (v. 2-3)
David will study; walk; and keep his eyes from worthlessness.
Though "studying the way that is blameless" and doing all of these "behind the scenes" actions appear like he is not doing anything to spread purity, they are actually growing him to be a shinning display of who God is. In doing them, his speaking of "God's way" will simply act as "icing on the cake," because everyday he will be walking "God's way" with integrity and authenticity.
You see, our outward actions and words are genuine when they stem from inward transformation; for what really changes the world is a pure, blameless, and authentic heart.
God is seen in the purity, not in the pure(ish).
I will have nothing to do with evil... I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so that they may live with me; whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. (v. 4-6)
David will have nothing to do with evil. And David will seek out the faithful.
We must let go of everything evil and cling to everything that is blameless. And what we tend to overlook - or dismiss - is all of the faithful people that surround us. But in having nothing to do with evil, we should seek to have everything to do with those who are blameless.
Who are the "blameless" that surround you everyday? Seek them out. And through these inner disciplines, God rocked David's empire; Israel grew and grew.
Like I said before: A pure heart is the first step to experiencing a pure family, city, state, and world. May we seek to live this out today.
Thank you so much for joining us. Feel free to comment in today's IG post (instagram.com/declareglory). And as always, the image below is yours to post or share! Have a blessed week.
Blessings,
Greg, Declare Glory
