"Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways." (Psalm 119:2, 3)
The only way to, "do no iniquity," is to, "keep His testimonies,..seek Him with the whole heart," and, "walk in His ways." But the objective in our text is clear: "Do no iniquity," or, "do not compromise with evil" (NLT), "they do no unrighteousness [no willful wandering from His precepts]; they walk in His ways" (Amplified Bible).
Some approach the whole matter of sin with the belief, cognizant or not, that it is something the human race just has to put up with. It is the age old sin-ask-forgivness-sin-ask-forgivness cycle. You just cannot get such belief, however, from the Bible. "Sin shall not have the dominion over you," Paul tells the Roman Church. If you read the Epistles of John, you encounter even a more "radical" approach to sin. But alas, it is just easier for all of us to say in the words of the humanist song of the 1950s, "Though it makes him sad to see the way we live, he'll always say, 'I forgive.'" Is that what you and I really want? Do you want to continue the justification, excuse of the over worked cliche, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven"? Forgiveness without perfection, my friend, is not a Biblical objective.
Jesus shed His Most Precious Blood on that Cross to open the door to not only the forgiveness of sin, but another great promise, "that He might destroy (loose, untie, release) the works of the Devil" (1 John 3:8). To paraphrase, our Lord Jesus Christ declared "total war" on the Devil and sin. Sin is nothing but destructive. It mars our fellowship with the Blessed Trinity, as well as with others, as well as with our own well being. Again, is this what we want, a just going-to-confession-once-a-week religion? Do we have to put up with this? Our Lord Jesus said, "Therefore you shall be perfect (I know, "complete," but this can also be a translation which gives us "a break"), just as our Father in heaven is perfect." Someone once said to Ern Baxter, "Baxter, you're preaching perfection." To which Baxter replied, "Do you want me to preach imperfection?"
I never had peace in sin. That is a big reason God wants it out of me. What we have read in our text today is a theme throughout this Psalm, indeed throughout the Bible. William Law described it in a book which he wrote in the early 18th Century, and which I saw my Dad reading when I was a teenager---- A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. As the psalmist said, "I have a goodly heritage."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have not valued holiness as I should. It is just too invasive of my selfishness. I pray for continual conviction, grace, and empowerment in the Holy Spirit to live "a devout and holy life." Amen.
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Open Doors writes, "Ethiopia: A church (building)...has been burnt down by Muslim[s]...for a second time in a short period. The Muslim-dominated village is not please with the positive growth of Christianity in their area."
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
