Am I Good Enough for God? (Psalm 15 Devotional)
“Lord, who may live in your sanctuary, who may dwell on your holy hill?” – Psalm 15:1
This psalm lists some attributes of one who could live with God forever. They are righteous, blameless, always speak truth from their heart, never slander, never talk bad about a person, hate evil people, keep their word under all circumstances, lend money freely, and never accept a bribe.
Looking down that list I realize very quickly: I fall short in most all of these! We desire to be people worthy of climbing God’s holy hill but see in this list that we are not.
I have some friends who are pretty good athletes. One guy I know was a minor league baseball player who would occasionally get bumped up into the major leagues. He would be called up when there was an injury, only to be back in the minors after a few weeks.
My friend was known as a great hitter. He once told me that his eyes were so good that when the pitcher released the ball, he could tell what type of pitch was coming at him by the way the stitches on the ball were spinning. Think about that. The ball comes out of a pitcher’s hand, 60 feet away, at almost 100 miles per hour. In less than ½ of a second it would be past my friend, but he could see which way the stitches were spinning (a ball is less than 3 inches in diameter!) and know what type of pitch it was going to be!
But even then, my friend had a problem. More often than not, he couldn’t hit the ball! As good as he was. As much as he wanted to be a pro baseball player, he was not good enough to play in the Major Leagues.
And the reality is that’s how all of us are when it comes to standing before God. The psalmist tells us what it takes to be on God's holy hill. And as much as you and I may desire that, we just don't have the righteousness God requires.
We don’t have what it takes to play ball with God!
So, what are we to do? In the book of Romans in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul builds the case that all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of our sin is eternal separation from Him (Rom. 6:23). Then in genuine anguish Paul finally cries out, ‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?’ And the answer to his question comes in the very next sentence: ‘Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’
Jesus is the only person who has ever been worthy to stand on God’s hill, because He is the only one to ever live a sinless life. But even though Jesus lived a life worthy of standing with God, He chose to walk to a different hill - that dark, lonely hill called Golgotha, to pay a price for our sin. In dying on the cross and rising again from grace, Jesus secured not only our salvation, but also our position as Sons and Daughters of the King. Because of His obedience, anyone of us who will humble ourselves and look to Him in faith will be eternally clothed in the royal robes of His righteousness, which Jesus has purchased for us with His own blood. He has paid our admission in full and seated us with Himself in the heavenly places.
Praise God for this immeasurable gift!
“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
Questions for Thought:
Have you ever felt like you were good enough at something only to realize you weren’t quite at the level you thought?
Have you ever felt that way with God?
What does Jesus “paying it all” mean for us in the way we seek standing before God?
