Walk In Integrity, Dwell With The Lord

Eternal One, who is invited to stay in Your dwelling?
Who is granted passage to Your holy mountain?
Here is the answer: The one who lives with integrity, does what is right,
and speaks honestly with truth from the heart.

Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? Who shall rest upon thy holy hill?
Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing which is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart.

-Psalm 15:1-2 (The Voice, MSTC(1))

Someone might say to you, that you really need to live a blameless life.  You look back, turning your head sideways in a 'huh?' sort of way and your friend clarifies and says, "I mean walk uprightly!"  You then scrunch your brow, still unsure what they mean.  Is the person telling me to not be the guy who gets blamed and to walk with my head high?

That is the trouble with translations, sometimes.  They use words that we do not use is normal life.  The translators are trying to get to what the meaning is of the original word.  But, I like it when they use everyday words.

Psalm fifteen, two answers the question of Psalm fifteen, one: "Who is invited to stay in your dwelling?"  That is the way The Voice translation says it.  The King James Bible says, "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"  The ESV says, "O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?"    

David is asking the question, "who can be in your presence?"  The answer to that question is what I want to cover.  

The answer to the question of who is invited or who may come into God's dwelling place, is answered in the second verse of Psalm 15.  Most translations say that the one that may come and be intimate or close with God is the blameless upright person.  But, these are words that we usually do not use.

I found a very old translation that has since been updated to modern English and is used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, called the Modern Spelling Tyndale/Coverdale translation that has the 'blameless' or 'upright' part translated, 'leadeth an uncorrupt life'.

Corruption is when you lie, cheat, or steal.  An uncorrupt person is a person of integrity.  We want leaders who have integrity.  'In integrity' means honest, ethical, and moral.

The opposite of integrity, in one word is, dishonest.  Blameless and upright also mean honest.  Another word to describe a person of integrity, who is blameless and upright and not corrupt, is 'solid'.  You might say that he or she is 'solid'.  That means that the person is stable and true.

We see that David discerned that the people who can enjoy God's presence are honest people.  Their honestly permeates their lives.  They live in truth.  They speak truth and truth flows through their lives.  They talk the talk and walk the walk.  

Hypocrisy is when you say one thing and do another.  It is better to do the right thing some of the time, as in trying and struggling to do right; than to talk truth and not do it.  

If you want to dwell in God's presence, you have to learn to tell the truth and live by and in the truth.  Jesus is, "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  In Christ, we are learning to live in and through truth.

Some of the cousins of dishonesty are delusion, illusion, and deception.  Delusion is when you believe in something that is false (not true) or when you have unrealistic beliefs or opinions.  An illusion is when you believe in something that does not line up with reality.  Deception is when you are misled by lies.

Some people are living in delusion, illusion, or deception.  These people will have trouble dwelling in God's presence.  We need to rid ourselves of delusions, illusions, and deceptions; in order to enjoy dwelling with God.  

There is a phrase that some people use where they say, "honest to God".  We need to get honest when we go into God's presence.  "What am I delusional about?", is a question to ask.

Pride, which is idolatry of our selves is the core sin.  Adam and Eve fell because they fell for a lie and embraced their own ideas that were contrary to God's truth.  They fell into a delusion  that their pride opened the door to.  Pride is when self takes the throne that belongs to God in Christ.

The Good News Translation gives us Psalm fifteen, verses one and two this way:

Lord, who may enter your Temple? Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?

Those who obey God in everything and always do what is right, whose words are true and sincere.

I want to be obedient in everything.  Selective obedience is sin.  I don't want to be someone who says one thing and does another.  I think that we all do not want to be people who have disastrous private lives and picture-perfect, show-lives.  This is the reason for the qualifications lists for elders.

We cannot enter God's presence if we are liars, cheaters, or frauds.  As soon as you repent, you are clean, but if you live in lack of integrity, then you won't enjoy God's presence.