The Ultimate Checklist

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? (Psalm 15:1)

Are you interested?

The checklist is sandwiched between the first and last verses of Psalm 15. It’s a great list! Here are the standards of the Lord:

• Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right.

What does it look like to do what is right?

• Those who speak the truth from sincere hearts.
• Those who refuse to gossip.
• Those who refuse to harm their neighbors.
• Those who refuse to speak evil of their friends.
• Those who despise flagrant sinners.
• Those who honor the faithful followers of the Lord.
• Those who keep their promises even when it hurts.
• Those who lend money without charging interest.
• Those who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.

Such people will stand firm forever. (Psalm 15:5b)

I want to be a person who leads a blameless life and does what is right. Do you, too?

Thankfully, blameless doesn’t mean perfect.

The only blameless person who ever lived was Jesus. Once we accept His payment on the cross for our sins, God no longer counts our sins against us. In that sense, we too become blameless before God.

But there’s more.

When we receive Christ, we receive the Spirit of God who lives inside of us. As we walk closely with God, the Spirit of God grows us more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

We start to live a life that aligns more with this checklist. 

If you compare who you are today with the person you were ten ten years ago, do you live more like the person who will stand firm forever? If so, thank God the Spirit for His work in you. If not, ask God for the ability to teach you how to let the Spirit make you look more like Christ every year. In short, this list is not about performance or striving.

Being blameless is only found in Jesus.

• We are blameless because of Jesus.
• We are blameless as we walk closely (blamelessly) with Jesus.
• We will stand blameless at His coming.

May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify me through and through. May my whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Timothy 2:12-15)

Picture Explanation: Guess who got his braces off?

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge what went down in our country this week surrounding a string of recent events of racial injustice caught on video, and what has been occurring for decades both blatantly and systemically. To tackle such a large topic in a blog post can’t be done. What can be done is to make sure my personal response aligns with the checklist above, that I am always prepared to have the necessary and uncomfortable  conversations any time and anywhere to wrestle this thing out, and to not just sympathize, but stand with my brothers and sisters of color. I can assure you I am aiming to live such a life.

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