Description of a Citizen of Zion.
A Psalm of David.
15 O Lord, who may [a]abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
3 He does not slander [b]with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 In [c]whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
But [d]who honors those who fear the Lord;
He swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 He does not put out his money [e]at interest,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.
This is an abrupt change from previous psalms, and a challenging list of standards to boot. The ultimate example for our lives is Jesus, and we can see all of these modeled in his life. One that stands out as a challenge to me as a business owner is “He swears to his own hurt and does not change.” That’s a tough pill to swallow, but it means walking with integrity and honoring your word.
Yet, it’s also something our Savior did in a very unique way. As far back as the garden, God began making promises to mankind about what He would do about the problem of sin. With Adam and Eve it was “your see will crush his (the enemy) head”. To Abraham, it was “through your seed, all nations of the earth will be blessed.”
We could find plenty of examples, but the clear truth of the matter is this. Even when God created man and woman, and created them for relationship with himself, there was a built-in promise. Why create someone to relate to God only to see that relationship severed permanently? Because God was making a promise that he already knew would hurt and cost him dearly. Yet He still did it, and He did not waver in that promise.
Several thousand years later, that promise came to completion in the life and death of the very one who showed us how to live. We are not righteous, but He became righteousness for us. We have all fallen short of this daunting list of requirements, yet God has not given up on us. He wants us to live out a life of integrity, to speak truth and despise evil. And he’s stacked the deck in our favor by giving us his own spirit, to correct and guide, and to encourage us through it all.
First and foremost, choose His life, yet know that doesn’t mean simply believing in Jesus and his sacrifice. It means “taking up our cross” daily, to live as Christ did, displaying our faith by our words and actions. It isn’t an easy road, but it’s one well worth the taking.