Blessable

Read Psalm 15

Featured Verse: Psalm 15:1

“LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?”

What is it that makes us blessable?  We utter the phrase, “God bless you” without much thought to what makes us blessable, so just what is the life God blesses? Are the blessings of God automatic, or are they conditional?  Seriously, how do we get into the blessing zone of God’s overflowing and generous favor?

David couldn’t have spelled it out any clearer than in Psalm 15:  It is the life of integrity!  The person of complete integrity, which I realize, in the truest sense is redundant—spiritual, relational, financial, moral, intellectual, physical integrity—is the one upon whom God’s favor, power and provision will rest.

Now integrity is a word that gets thrown around a great deal these days—and that’s part of the problem:  It get’s thrown around instead of lived out.  So just what is integrity?  I think the simplest and best definition I know is this: The congruence of what you believe with how you behave.  For the Christian, it is the marriage of Biblical values, principles and world-view with our moment-by-moment attitudes and actions.  In short, it is to practice what we preach at all times and under every circumstance.

David provides some very specific areas of integrity that are absolutely critical to living under the blessing of God:

Moral Purity:  “He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous.” (Psalm 15:2)

Compassionate Honesty:  “…who speaks the truth from his heart.” (Psalm 15:2)

Rejection of Destructive Opinion:  “…and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman.” (Psalm 15:3)

Revulsion of Evil People:  “…who despises a vile man.” (Psalm 15:4)

Promotion of Good People:  “…but honors those who fear the LORD.” (Psalm 15:4)

Ruthless Trustworthiness:  “…who keeps his oath when it hurts.” (Psalm 15:4)

Risky Generosity:  “…who lends his money without usury.” (Psalm 15:5)

Rigid Honor:  “…and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.” (Psalm 15:5)

Any person who lives organically, unbendingly and consistently this way will find themselves living, as Psalm 15:5 concludes, in the stability and security of the palm of the Heavenly Father’s hand:  “He who does these things will never be shaken.”

The tides of an increasingly nasty culture and the natural drift of our own falleness will make living out this kind integrity extremely difficult.  We will have to fight opposite currents every day, if not every moment of our lives.  But such a well-lived life will be worth it along the way and at the end of our journey.  It is the only way to live—because it is the life God blesses!

“Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.”  ~Oswald Chambers