“Who may worship in Your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter Your presence on Your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.” Psalm 15:1-5 (NLT)

There is a dear lady at the Bible study I attend. Her clothes look old, and they often don’t match. She doesn’t wear make-up, and she keeps her hair plain.

As I have gotten to know her, I have seen her deep desire to grow in her knowledge of God, and to serve Him whole-heartedly. She comes early to help set up, and she stays late to help put things away. She never seeks attention for herself, and always gives glory to God.

In the secular world, she would be considered a nobody. But to God, she is beautiful, valuable, treasured. She is one of the faithful Christ followers we are called to honor.

The Bible gives us many lists of attributes that describe genuine Christ followers. Those in our culture, and even Christians who are distracted by the world around them, see these lists as nothing but a bunch of rules; they might describe them as backwards, old-fashioned, or only for legalists.

However, Scripture describes the life of a believer in this way because living this way brings glory to God, and joy to those who serve Him. 

The Apostle Paul reminds us “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:25a). What doesn’t make sense to the world around us makes perfect sense to God; and what strikes the world as incredibly wise doesn’t even compare to the foolishness of God.

Lord God, You are infinitely wise. Help me to trust Your Word, even when it is difficult and makes no sense to me. I believe that it makes sense to You, and You are trustworthy. Amen.

Take Action

Read the list of attributes in Psalm 15 again. Is there something from this list that you are struggling to accept? Is there someone you have wronged in this way? Pray that the Lord would convict you of your sin and change your heart so that you would desire His wisdom and not the wisdom of the world.