“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to slander others or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise persistent sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who do not charge interest on the money they lend, and who refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.” (Psalm 15:1-5 NLT).
Continuing our study in Psalm 15, “What are the requirements of worship?” The second requirement: “Those who refuse to slander others or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.” Slander is defined as “the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame or damage another’s reputation.” The dictionary then points us to compare the word malign, where we read, “Malign suggests specific and often subtle misrepresentation but may not always imply deliberate lying.”
The verse goes on, “or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.” All of this in answer to the question, “Who is fit to worship?”
Sometimes we forget the horizontal (man to man) aspect of the Christian walk. We think all is well if our vertical relationship (man to God) is right. Yet we are reminded again and again in Scripture that if the horizontal relationship is not right, there can be no vertical relationship and there is no circumventing this truth. Jesus said, “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” (Matthew 5:23-24 MSG). Again it is John who reminds us, “If anyone boasts, ‘I love God,’ and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.” (1 John 4:20-21 MSG).
Now, sitting there in front of your computer there is no one to impress. Be honest, how are you on this vital point of the Christian life? You can fool men, but you can’t fool God (Hebrews 4:13; 2 Chronicles 16:9). No excuses. Don’t think you can run to God if there are unresolved conflicts with men standing in the way.
Funny, as I write this thought the words of the song, "Not my brother, but my sister but it's me O' Lord, standin' in the need of prayer . . . ." keeps running through my mind. Ouch!
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