Truth in action
by Jill Lange-Mohr
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‘Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?’ (Psalm 15:1).
This psalm has a theme of justice. David meditates over the character of a person received into the presence of God. The sacred tent or tabernacle of God was the great tent of meeting, which God instructed Moses and Israel to build for him during their exodus from Egypt (Exodus 25–31). Through the work of the priests and the practice of sacrifice, the sacred tent was where the priests met with God. David’s question ‘who may dwell in your sacred tent’ is his longing and desire to abide in the presence of God.
David goes on to list all who would be worthy of this privilege: ‘one whose walk is blameless’, ‘who speaks the truth’, ‘who despises a vile person’ and ‘one who keeps an oath even when it hurts’. In describing the character of a person who can live in God’s presence, ‘walks uprightly and does what is righteous’, these represent the Old Covenant. None of us can live up to this expectation. We constantly fall short of this standard. We just don’t stack up to this requirement!
Thank God that we live within the New Covenant, which gives us a different relationship with God. This is only due to the love of Jesus Christ, providing the ultimate sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Simply, it’s faith versus performance.
Does this mean we don’t need to ‘do’ anything about this now? David knew that our new righteousness is best reflected in how we treat each other and how we behave. A wonderful quote from Martin Luther is ‘God does not need your good works, but your neighbour does’. It’s truth in action.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to be of service to others, out of thankfulness that God, through Jesus, has forgiven us by his ultimate sacrifice. Amen.
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