Who will God allow on His holy hill? Who will be welcomed in heaven? Psalm 15 says only “One who walks with integrity, who does what is righteous, and who speaks the truth in his heart” will be welcomed by God. (Psalm 15:2 EHV) The psalm then goes on to explain more about the righteous person:
- Doesn’t slander anyone or tell lies,
- Doesn’t harm his friend,
- Doesn’t lie about his neighbor,
- Rejects unbelievers and honors believers,
- Always keeps his promises no matter the personal cost,
- Lends money without asking interest,
- And doesn’t take bribes.
Wow, that is a very tough list of things needed to be considered blameless and welcome in God’s house. Not only do they always do what is right, but they also never tell lies of any type. Not only will you be welcome in God’s house if you follow that list, but you will also be so trustworthy on this earth that no one can ruin your reputation. In a time when all a man truly had was his reputation, David often had people lying about him. It’s not surprising that David would create a psalm about not telling lies. These psalms were used for centuries in the Jewish services as guides to live by, so David wanted to remind people that God hated liars.
Thank God that our acceptance into heaven isn’t based on our actions.
My study bible says that King David was highlighting a major difference between what God wanted of His people and what other nearby religions of the time demanded. The local religions demanded rituals. The worshipers were expected to do rituals to their gods and live however they wanted when they weren’t doing those rituals. David was saying that God judged the Israelites by how they lived, not just what rituals they did. Jesus came and did all the rituals perfectly, lived the perfect life for us. Our acceptance into heaven is based on Jesus’ actions in our stead, not our own actions earning us heaven.
Does that mean that we can act however we want to?
No, it means that we know we’re not capable of being perfect, but in thankfulness to God and Jesus for the gift of eternal life in heaven, we try to be perfect. Our perfection, an attempt to follow all the guides in the Bible, is not to earn our way to heaven, but done as a thank offering to God. We’ll stumble into imperfection every day, but we still try to follow Jesus’ example as a thank you for His perfection that covers us.
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