Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

Worthy

January 6, 2012

 "Never turn your back on the monarch." "Bow down when you approach the king or queen." "Speak only when you're spoken to." Such rules seem ridiculous in a nation of democracy, when citizen-neighbors rise to become our President.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who do not put their trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
                                                ---Psalm 24:3,4 TNIV

To bow down before a monarch assumes that royalty is a more worthy one than the commoner. What happens, however, when we actually come into the presence of true royalty? Who is worthy, or even capable of standing in the presence of the holy? David ponders this in his Psalm. I'll speak for myself, this is not good news. On my own I don't have clean hands; I don't have a clean heart, and I flirt with false gods most every day. So, am I lost? Are you?

No. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. I am not worthy, but Christ is! In his atoning Cross he gives me a bath to clean my hands, my entire life, that which I could not accomplish on my own has been transferred to me through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the good news. We may ascend the mountain of the Lord not because of us, or our worthiness, but his. Thanks be to God.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson