Skip to main content

Living In God's House


Psalm 15 (verses one through five)


Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

He who walks uprightly,

    And works righteousness,
    And speaks the truth in his heart;
 
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
    Nor does evil to his neighbor,
    Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
 
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
    But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
 
He who does not put out his money at usury,
    Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

Today is my youngest daughter's 15th birthday.  We decided to read this psalm for our devotional time together.  If we wish to live in the house of God, we must be willing to follow His words.  We have to change our character to the image of Christ.  

When we put on Christ in baptism we are on a spiritual high.  We are thankful, grateful, excited.  The world ahead looks bright and easy.  But as we begin the daily walk, we see it is a much more challenging.  There are those who speak against us, we might face challenges as we no longer share the outlook on life of those around us.   There are temptations everywhere as we change to reflect the face of Christ.  2 Corinthians 3:18 speaks of this change. 

If we want to dwell with Christ today (Colossians 1:27) and for eternity,   
we must walk in the light, as He is in the light, (1 John 1:7)  giving up our will for His, joyfully enduring trials (James 1:12.) 

We have an example in Jesus, who was obedient to the Father (Hebrews 5:8), trusting Him, and then was raised, the first of many (Romans 8:29.)  I think of His time in the garden.  How alone and abandoned he felt as he waited in unthinkable pain and anguish for what he knew was coming.  

I think to myself and share with you; can we do less than Christ?  Nothing in my mind is worth missing heaven for and I want others to know that joyful expectation as well.  (read 1 Corinthians 2:9)

I am praying today for my daughter as she begins a new year of her life, and for those about us to see life lived to the glory  of God and His kingdom.  Today is a new day, living in the house of God!

Comments

  1. elizAugust 21, 2014 at 6:51 PM

    Happy Belated Birthday! (((HUGS))) and prayers :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. sojourner2earthOctober 9, 2014 at 12:34 PM

    Actually you are 3 months (only 1 now) early! November is my birthday month, and how sweet of you to remember me, regardless. It has been a mixed up, crazy year, anyway. Always good to hear from you. I was getting out my winter things and thought of you again as I took your beautiful prayer shawl out. Hugs to you, dear sister.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changes

Change is inevitable.  Life is a journey and we cannot see the road ahead.  We plan, we plot, we strategize and organize.  Then some element changes, throwing the entire plan into chaos.   How we respond to that change makes all the difference in the outcome.  What happens when our well-thought out plan is no longer workable?  Do we throw up our hands and give up?  Do we lament and moan and weep over it?  Do we begin working on Plan B?  None of these is a 'wrong' answer as long as we don't get stuck in one too long.  How important is it for us to grieve the loss of our first plan?  It's important and necessary even to mourn for what isn't going to happen, or even the loss of what could be.   Rodger and I planned for me to be a 'stay-at-home mom.'  He never liked coming home to an empty house when he was a kid.  But I think that the stronger motivation was having one of us to be there for our children...
Post a Comment
Read more

Keys to Building a Good Marriage

Photo by Charlotte Duren   We recently moved to a new community.  In all the preparation for holiday celebrations and then the move, getting settled in our home and community, my quiet time dwindled to a few prayers on the run and scattered thoughts on the word.  Add family to the mix and it occurred to me how easy it is to neglect those things which are most important.  If my relationship to God is hurting, how much more so the relationship to my husband and children must be suffering!   The natural ebb and flow of life is never a steady stream, but sometimes a rushing torrent, sometimes a trickle in the desert.  If we women don't carve out time for our own daily study, the whole family suffers and our marriage is not the best it can be. Each of us has the same amount of time.  We have today.  No one is promised more or less.  But we much make a conscious choice how we spend that time.  Now we don't all have the same responsibilit...
3 comments
Read more

Update on the Wallet

Now don't faint.  I know it's just been a few days since my last blog post.  But when God get's moving, things happen fast. Wednesday afternoon I arrived home (thanks for the last minute ride from Enterprise, Debbie!)   and saw a huge pile of mail on the recliner (thank you, Janae, for seeing it safely inside!) I was too tired to look at it much, but saw a letter from the police department and tossed it aside, thinking it was just a copy of the final report on my wallet. Thursday morning, my plans changed, and so I started laundry and sorted through the mail.  I opened the police report, only it wasn't a report, but a notice  to pick up evidence!  I raced up (okay, I might have slightly exceeded the speed limit once or twice) to get my wallet. Enough to say that it was intact (minus the cash) and all my cards were in it.  But no pictures (why?  What reason would they have to leave everything else, but not the pictures of my children and grands?). ...
Post a Comment
Read more