March 15, 2006

This caught my eye in the scriptures this morning:

"The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But He loves him who follows righteousness."
(Proverbs 15:8-9).

The comparison is between people in the eyes of God.  We sometimes might
slip into thinking that God is undiscerning when it comes to people, that He
simply sees everyone the same.  Not so.  While it is true that there is a
sense of "equality" in that we all need the same salvation in Christ Jesus,
do not let that notion cloud that fact that how we live does indeed come up
before the LORD, and that how we live does indeed affect our relationship with Him.

Compared here are wicked people and upright, righteous people. Particularly
in view are two things: their worship and their manner of living.

The worship - that is "the sacrifice" - of those who do not walk uprightly
not only does not secure any favor with God, it actually repulses Him. It
is the essence of hypocrisy, and even the most basic understanding of
scripture reveals God's aversion to that.  On the contrary, it is "delight"
- pleasure - to God to receive worship - "prayer" here - from the person who
does walk uprightly.

Just in case the importance of how we walk doesn't sink in from that, an
additional comparison is given.

The "way" a wicked person lives is abhorrent to the LORD.  But He LOVES
the person who walks in "righteousness".  Notice the exclusive application
of "love" to the righteous.  He is not undiscerning with His love.  We talked
this past Sunday about God's love a little bit.  God's general, universal
love for the world as a whole caused Him to send Jesus.  But the
appropriation of that love, in the form of mercy, forgiveness and salvation,
is reserved for those who repent and believe on Jesus Christ His Son. And
that repentance and faith will manifest itself with...  You guessed it -
righteousness (doing what is right in God's eyes) in the manner of living of
His true children.

So again we see the necessity for attention to walking uprightly and
living in righteousness.  Our inattentiveness to this can hinder (that's
putting it mildly) our prayers and simply displease our wonderful, gracious God.
So apply yourself, if you are indeed His child, to the study of His word
that you may have knowledge of His ways and strength to walk in
righteousness.

May God's blessing be upon all who love His name and walk in His ways!

In Jesus, looking for His glorious appearing,
Pastor Lou