Good Morning!

Psalm 15 (New Century Version)
What the Lord Demands
A psalm of David.
1 Lord, who may enter your Holy Tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?

2 Only those who are innocent
and who do what is right.
Such people speak the truth from their hearts
3 and do not tell lies about others.
They do no wrong to their neighbors
and do not gossip.
4 They do not respect hateful people
but honor those who honor the Lord.
They keep their promises to their neighbors,
even when it hurts.
5 They do not charge interest on money they lend
and do not take money to hurt innocent people.

Whoever does all these things will never be destroyed.

Psalm 15 will be the subject of our Bible study tonight. I spent a few minutes looking at the various translations on BibleGateway.com, just to get the flavor of how different translations present this Psalm.

This is going to be a real good study because we live in times where some folks don’t flinch at doing the opposite of what this Psalm says. I remember an incident from my checkered youth past. Emory Village had a pool hall. And, yes, I was known to frequent it when I was in my early teens. I really enjoyed the game though I wasn’t very good at it. (I can hear some of my golf buddies say “you haven’t changed much – playing a game you’re not very good at”.) Anyway, there was a person who hung out in the pool hall who was very good. He asked me to play – even promised to pay if he won – which he did. When it came time to pay up, he said I owed for the game. Yes, I was snookered. And I had to pay for the game. I was very angry – not only because I had to pay but because I felt like a fool to have even talked with the guy. I made it a point not to ever get around him again. Pretty soon, no one else would either – so who is the real loser?

The principles in this Psalm are just plain good advice:
Accept people at their word
Do what is right
Treat your neighbors right
Be honest
Don’t gossip
Respect and honor people who honor God
Don’t hang with those who don’t
Keep the promises you make – even if it hurts
Be giving

Perhaps I have oversimplified – but I believe that God keeps things simple so that even I can understand what He wants.

I can hardly wait for tonight – but I do hope you will have a good day in the Lord.

Agape’

Mr. Jim
Fatdad5@comcast.net
"Preach the Gospel everyday - and if you have to, use words" ... St. Francis of Assisi