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ho may enter the dwelling place of God? What a profound question. According to this psalm we must be blameless in several areas, there’s quite a laundry list of requirements. These guidelines represent good standards by which we should be living, and they are certainly attainable. But do we need to be at this level of perfection just to be able to worship? The ability to worship is given to all, I would think, but to truly yearn for the presence of God and to truly acknowledge Him in reverence during our time of worship may be worshiping on two different planes. For the latter, our mindset would probably be more in line with the standards we see in this psalm, because we would want to, strive to be what God wants for us, and it would be a non-issue.
I took a step back and asked, “In what ways do I fall short of these standards? Take a moment now to do the same. Now, think about how you can improve what you’re doing. For me, what struck a chord was the speaking ill of others. While I don’t make this a practice, I do recall a few comments I have made that I wish I hadn’t. Don’t you hate when that happens? How about finding fault in others. Guilty! There are definitely some things here I can work on.
As I write this, Christmas is only a few days away. I am reminded of the first worship of Jesus. Together with the angels, it was the lowly shepherds who came first to bow down. They probably hadn’t even washed their hands let alone become “blameless”. We need to keep in mind that the majesty of God came down from his throne to be covered in human skin. That precious baby, God, was born to die for us. That makes my heart overflow with a desire to worship, how about you?
Let’s pray. Lord, help me to be more loving and accepting of those who different from me, and help me to be more honoring to your name in all I say and do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
