Psalm 15 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 15 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Verse 2Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
Verse 3who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
Verse 4in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
Verse 5who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
Devotion
How do we best enter into God's holy presence? This psalm, like the entire biblical witness, weds the vertical and the horizontal dimensions of faithful living. So as pilgrims arrive at the Temple entrance on the holy day, the door-keeper inquires about their lives in the preceding six days.
God doesn't give a fig for devotional exercises unless they reflect a covenantal lifestyle. How we walk with our neighbors—feet firmly planted on the soil of this good though groaning creation—prepares us to meet God. Speaking words that build up, handling money in just and merciful ways, keeping our promises, striving for integrity—these habits six days of the week prepare us to meet God on the seventh day.
Prayer
God, mold me every day into a person of integrity. Let me encounter you in worship as the one I've been meeting all week—in the faces of my neighbors. Amen.