I will be careful to lead a blameless life—when will you come to me?

Psalm 101: 2-7

2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.
3 I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
I will have no part in it.
4 The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.
5 Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,
I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
I will not tolerate.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.

Today’s title is “Striving To Be Blameless Before God”

We know that we are sinners who have no hope apart from the grace of God. We Christians really mean it when we sing the hymn “Father, I stretch my hands to Thee. No other help I know. If Thou withdraw Thyself from me, Ah! whither shall I go”. Having confessed that we are totally depraved as such, are we then to give up any efforts to be godly and holy? I know that there are some argue for those extreme views. But any bible reader with a common sense would know that such view is far from the biblical truth. Yes, bible fundamentally tells us we are totally depraved by the sin. We have no hope apart from the grace of God. At the same time, bible constantly exhorts us to become more Christlike and godlier. One great goal of Christian life is to become like Christ. So there indeed is no conflict between human depravity and our aspiration to be like Christ and God. In today’s psalm, we see a good example of strong aspiration for more godliness. The psalm starts with a humble but bold declaration. It says, “ I will be careful to lead a blameless life”. Then the Psalmist goes on to different aspects of life where he will strive to be blameless. His blameless life starts from his own household. Then he expresses his determination to be highly careful about whom he will dwell with and walk with. He says, “whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate. My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless. In short, he declares to God that he will greatly strive to live in godly manner. Why is he so committed to such godly life? Obviously, that’s what pleases God. But we got a hint that he has another reason for such determination for godly life. We can see it in his spiritual dialogue with God. “I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? He was convinced that He will see God if he maintains such godly life. He thought that he could see God quicker if he spurs up his godly life. I presumes that God’s answer to him is strongly positive. The more he dedicates himself to godliness, the quicker he will see God. How eagerly are you striving to be godly? It may not save you. But it surely matters to your relationship with God and Christ. Jesus clearly said “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” How soon do you think you will see God?