“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His Holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3-4 (New American Standard Version)
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9 (New American Standard Version)
People who run businesses must diligently keep track of their inventory. May times businesses succeed or fail depending on what is or is not on their shelves. Our spiritual life is the same way, it will succeed or fail depending on what is on our shelves. How long has it been since you took inventory of your heart and life?
In the passage from Psalm 24, God’s Word makes it clear that we need to focus on Godly living (clean hands) and Godly longing (pure heart). Have you done things lately that you know a Christian should not do? Remember that ungodly living results from ungodly longings in our heart. If you have ungodly longings in your heart, it is probably because you have “lifted up your soul to falsehood.” Think about that.
The good news is that, even though every Christian still struggles with sin to some degree, there is forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 is a great comfort to the Christian who has sinned. Your fellowship and joy in God can be restored. However, that will not happen as long as you refuse to get honest about the sin in your own life. Take a few minutes and take inventory of your heart and life; then deal with what’s in there.
What might happen this Sunday if every member of our church determined in their heart to come to church with no unconfessed sin in their life?
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