Becoming people of God’s truth

“O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
    Who may dwell on your holy hill?
 Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right
    and speak the truth from their heart....” Psalm 15:1-2

In reflecting upon this psalm, I was struck by the first part of the psalmist’s answer to his initial questions:

“O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right
and speak the truth from their heart….”

I am learning that these actions evolve from more than merely mustering up the willpower to do them. The only way we can walk blamelessly, do what is right, and speak the truth from our hearts is if we come to embody God’s truth with all that we are. In other words, it is far less about willing ourselves to walk blamelessly, do what is right, and speak truth from our hearts, and far more about becoming the kind of person who naturally does so.

As we seek to become that kind of person—that kind of people—we find ourselves abiding in the dwelling place of God. What is the dwelling place of God? It is God’s Kingdom, which has been ushered in through Christ as He left God’s space of heaven and entered humanity’s space of earth, linking the two through His birth, life, death, and resurrection. God’s dwelling place is here among us and within us as we yield our lives to Him.

I am continually learning that the Way of Jesus is not about accepting His gift of salvation and then continuing to live according to our own wills and understandings. Rather, it is about accepting His gift of salvation, and then abiding in and following Him—not so that we simply wake up each day and try to do the right things, but so that, through our surrender to His truth, we allow Him to keep transforming us into His likeness and image. In this way, we genuinely become the kind of people He is: those who walk blamelessly, do what is right, and speak the truth from their hearts.

~em

Photo credit: Thanti Nguyen on Unsplash