Who Can Dwell with the Lord?

 What kind of person do we have to be to abide with the Lord? I am talking about us being allowed to enter His holy presence and walk closely with Him every day all day long. The reality is that this does not happen for everyone. It doesn't even happen automatically for all believers. God doesn't hang out with people that are going to bring Him shame or tarnish His name. God is looking for us to have strong character. David knew this well. That is why he wrote Psalm 15. (Psalm 15:1-2) David asked the Lord who was permitted to dwell in His tent. He inquired about who God would permit to live on His holy mountain. Then, David gave us God's answer. The person who can dwell with the Lord lives blamelessly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart. I wonder if we are able to dwell with the Lord today? Let's consider what it takes.

To abide in the Lord and be one of His close associates, we must live blamelessly. We can't live with sin in our lives and not confess it. If we do that, we are not clean, and we are bringing shame on the name of the Lord, not honoring Him. To be blameless we must listen to the Spirit and do what He says to confess our sins, repent of them, and make things right with others we have wronged. Also, we must be practicing righteousness. We must live out God's ways for our life. We can't just know what to do, we have to be doing it on a consistent, daily basis. This takes spiritual growth and a certain maturity in the Lord. Finally, we must acknowledge truth in our hearts. We can't base our life and beliefs on falsehood. Our life must be founded on God's truth, so that it is in our hearts. Then, we are able to live out the truth in righteousness and to be blameless.  When God sees those things, He will welcome us into His tent, and we can draw near to Him on His holy mountain. I pray that will be the goal of each of us, as believers.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 16-18.