Living in the Spirit
September 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 26

Vindicate me, O Lord,
   for I have walked in my integrity,
   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
   test my heart and mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
   and I walk in faithfulness to you.
I do not sit with the worthless,
   nor do I consort with hypocrites;
I hate the company of evildoers,
   and will not sit with the wicked. –Psalm 26:1-5

I found this Psalm somewhat disturbing, I must admit. It starts with a challenge to God to find any fault in the author and then goes on to list the “virtues” God will find. I tried to image these words coming from the mouth of Jesus who was constantly criticized for the company he kept. And who is this author to determine what person is worthless, who is a hypocrite, what is the definition of evildoer, and who is he or she to say who is wicked?

We probably all are guilty of feeling this way at times: “Here I am doing everything I was taught that was right and all these other people just don’t get it. Why do I even try?” One verse did get my attention: For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. None of us have obtained perfection. All of us are striving toward being in synch with God and we do that best when we are honest with God about our deepest thoughts and feelings and our self-awareness.

I walked into a fast food place once with a friend who is black. She was ahead of me when we arrived at the counter. The white youth standing behind the counter looked past her and asked me for my order. I was at first confused and said, “She is ahead of me.” He did not seem to have any malice in him but he never even looked at her, he just said to me again, “What do you want to order?” She said to me, “Go ahead and order.” It was an Aha moment for me; it was normal to her. I said, “I have not yet decided wait on her.” and moved my eyes to the menu above his head. He finally asked me friend what did she want.

This youth was being and doing exactly what he had been raised to be and do. He was totally unaware that his behavior might have been inappropriate or have had a negative impact on another. It is painful when we discover those things in our lives that seem to be part of our DNA but are not and are actually not even good for us. It is even harder to rid ourselves of them. I think it is impossible without God’s help and healing. And it will never happen until we open our eyes and see ourselves from Christ’s point of view, because Jesus Christ is the one whose opinion really matters.

Prayer: Lord, help me to see from your point of view and heal my soul, O Lord, heal my soul. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.