1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
2 The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
will never be shaken.
Warren Wiersbe, the great bible teacher and scholar said what we need to focus on when it comes to Christian character is contained in verse 2 of Psalm 15. 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart. Weirsbe breaks it down like this. “Three basic areas of life are named in Verse 2—blameless character, righteous conduct, and truthful conversation. I’ll break it down even further. It’s what’s on the inside. It’s what we show people on the outside. And it’s what we say. Let’s look at these three things.
Blameless character. When we say our walk is blameless, that doesn’t mean sinless. That has to do with our integrity. Blameless has to do with the soundness of our character, and our loyalty to God. In other words, it’s what’s on the inside of us.
Righteous conduct. That has to do with what we do. That we are honest in our dealings with other people. That what we believe and what we do are consistent with each other. That what we reflect on the outside matches what is on the inside.
And finally truthful conversation. That we speak the truth. That we don’t harm others with gossip. That we don’t slander or offer false witness against others.
All three of these things, blameless character, righteous conduct, and truthful conversation have to work in harmony with each other. What we do should always be in harmony with what we believe. And what we say should always be in harmony with our Christian values on the inside, and our conduct on the outside.
Warren Wiersbe said this about verse 2: “Walk, work and speak are present participles, indicating that the dedicated believer is constantly obeying the Lord and seeking to please Him.”
This should be a constant effort for Christians. We should always be asking ourselves questions. Did my conduct there match with what I believe? Did I reflect who I am on the inside by my conduct on the outside? Is what I said in that meeting completely true? Do I know that to be true? Is this idea I have, this opinion I hold based on God’s Word, or is it a worldly bias that’s gotten in and is unduly influencing me?
Our Christian Character is something we have to continue working on over our lifetime. But it can be challenging because it means we have to be continually examining what we believe, what we do, and what we say. It’s the whole package! Our Christian Character, all of it, must reconcile to God’s standard. And when aspects of our Christian Character don’t reconcile, that’s a good indication that something in us that doesn’t belong.
It sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not. If we keep our garden weeded, it’s not a big job to weed the garden, is it? It’s a big job when we let things grow, and before you know it we have a mess to clean up. And those bad plants have choked out what you wanted to grow.
When you leave here tonight, I want you to do something. I want you think about your character this week. Do the things you think and believe match with God’s word? And if they don’t where don’t they match and what could you do to fix those areas? How about your conduct? Do you do things you know you shouldn’t? Do you get mad easy? Do you let your impatience show? Does your conduct display good Christian Character? Are there areas you need to think about changing? Either on the inside or on the outside? Or both? Think about the things you say. Are they kind? Are you polite? Do you tell the truth? Do you gossip about others?
Proverbs 28:6 says, “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.” In the end, it’s not how successful or how unsuccessful we are in this life—it’s how we’ve lived it. Are you living your life to please God? Is God a part of everything you do. Is God involved in every aspect of your life. Are you constantly striving to grow in your Christian Character. Are you constantly building on your relationship with God. Only two people know the answers to these question.
You know. And God knows.
This is an excerpt of the message delivered at the Wednesday Night ReCharge at Muncie Baptist Church on 7/13/2022.
~Todd E. Creason
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