Are we Walking with Integrity of Heart?

 Psalms 101:1-4 ESV

 

“I will sing of steadfast love and justice;

    to you, O Lord, I will make music.

I will ponder the way that is blameless.

    Oh when will you come to me?

I will walk with integrity of heart

    within my house;

I will not set before my eyes

    anything that is worthless.

I hate the work of those who fall away;

    it shall not cling to me.

A perverse heart shall be far from me;

    I will know nothing of evil.”

 

If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, we should be those who delight in following our Lord in his truth and in his ways. We should not be those who are looking for loopholes so that we can keep on sinning, but we should be those who walk with integrity, in moral purity, in honesty, in uprightness, and in faithfulness. The desires of our hearts should be in accord with God’s divine character and his will for our lives, to live holy lives pleasing to him.

 

We will not set before our eyes anything that is worthless, vile, wicked, or base (dishonorable, corrupt, immoral). Do you know what all that entails? This isn’t about just porn here, but that is a big issue today within the church with so many people viewing and being addicted to porn. But this can include a singer on stage at a “church” service who is dressed immodestly and who is moving her body in seductive ways and/or is singing seductively.

 

This can include some posts, memes, and videos on social media or on YouTube or on other video sites such as Vimeo and others. This can include TV programs, or just the commercials, or movies, or music videos, including a lot of “Christian” music videos where the singers are dressed immodestly and where they are moving their bodies or giving facial expressions which are seductive. And this can include some video (computer) games.

 

We should not hate people, but we are to love people, even our enemies who do us harm. But we are to hate their evil deeds. And we are to guard against letting them rub off on us to where we begin to mimic their ways. And we have to guard against this even within the gatherings of the church, for, at least in America, it is indistinguishable between the church and the world, for the vast majority of the church has gone the way of the world.

 

So, we have pastors who are telling us that we don’t have to repent of our sins, and that we don’t have to obey the Lord, and that we don’t have to submit to the Lordship of Christ over our lives. And/or they may tell those within their congregations who are trapped in sin to just claim who they are in Christ if they begin to feel guilty about sinning. But that circumvents the Holy Spirit and his promptings and his urgings in our lives to not sin.

 

And then we have pastors who are telling us to “stay in your own lane,” meaning to mind our own business and to not say anything to anyone that might offend him or make him feel uncomfortable to where he is feeling judged. So, they don’t want us sharing the full gospel (the whole counsel of God), but they want us to share a diluted version which does not put sin to death in the life of the sinner but rather coddles the sinner in his sin.

 

So, if you are gathering together with other believers in Jesus in such a setting as what I just described, then I suggest you read what the Scriptures teach about how we are to be separate (unlike) the world, and how we are not supposed to be partakers with them in their sin, and how we need to come out of Babylon so we don’t share in her sins and in her punishment (Jn 15:19; Rom 12:1-2; Jas 4:4; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 2 Co 6:14-18; Rev 18:2-5).

 

Psalms 101:5-8 ESV

 

“Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly

    I will destroy.

Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart

    I will not endure.

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,

    that they may dwell with me;

he who walks in the way that is blameless

    shall minister to me.

No one who practices deceit

    shall dwell in my house;

no one who utters lies

    shall continue before my eyes.

Morning by morning I will destroy

    all the wicked in the land,

cutting off all the evildoers

    from the city of the Lord.”

 

That was then and this is now. David was King of Israel and he had the power and the authority to do what he set out to do. We are not given that kind of authority and power. It is God’s job to condemn and to punish, not ours. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something from this or that there are not biblical truths here for us to put into practice in our lives. There are, and we can learn plenty from this section of Scriptures.

 

David had the heart of God and so what he expressed here is God’s heart. It was then, and it is now. God will one day destroy all those who make sin their practice, whether their sin is slander, pride, deceit, sexual immorality, adultery, stealing, cheating, idolatry, and the like. For God hates all evil. He hates haughty eyes, lying tongues, hands that shed innocent blood, hearts that devise wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, false witnesses who pour out lies, and people who stir up conflict (Prov 6:16-19).

 

And God looks with favor on the faithful, who walk with integrity, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, who deny self, who die with him daily to sin, by his Spirt, and who walk in obedience to his commands. If they continue in this walk of faith steadfastly to the very end, they will inherit eternal life with God and then their salvation will be complete and their marriage to Jesus will be consummated (completed).

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Full Release  

 

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

 

Walking daily with my Savior

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus;

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence,

oh, what peace.

From my self-life

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

 

Hope and comfort,

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully,

oh, what love

That He gives me

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above.

 

Loving Father; precious Jesus,

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit,

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered

So that we might be alive.

 

https://vimeo.com/115169203