Living in the Spirit
July 11, 2018
Scripture Reading: Psalm 24
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. –Psalm 24:3-6
Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is Truth*?” haunts me. Pilate asks a political question while Jesus deals with theology. The mixing of the two is historically a great source of consternation. How does a person of faith deal with the relative nature of politics? How do we avoid turning relativity into absolutes in both politics and theology?
The Psalmist in our scripture above suggests the starting point of Truth happens before the question “What is truth” arises. If we have clean hands and pure hearts Truth is simpler to discern, a big if indeed.
We learn the lesson of clean hands and pure hearts early in our faith development. I remember singing a song** with motions at a pre-school age, Watch Yours Eyes, where we progressed through motions from eyes to ears to lips to hands to feet finally quickly moving our hands from head to toe touching each body part mentioned as we sang:
Watch your eyes, your ears, your lips, your hands, your feet.
Watch your eyes, your ears, your lips, your hands, your feet.
There’s a Father up above, looking down in tender love.
Watch your eyes, your ears, your lips, your hands, your feet.
This song’s message still resonates as we, more than ever, must be diligent about testing what we take in against the example of God’s love in the life of Jesus, asking the question, “Is this love? Is this ideology grounded in love that provides the very best for myself and all others?” What we take in, inevitably impacts what we put out.
Prayer: Lord, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin***. Amen
*John 18:38
**http://www.sundayschoolsongs.info/index.php/songs/9-watch-your-eyes
***Psalm 51:2