Create in me a clean heart, oh god. Renew a right spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again, the joy of my salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to sinners, and they will return to you.
I have read the verses in Psalm 53 a thousand times. But today they become new again.
When an offense is made, what shall we do? We have plenty of biblical direction in this area, both Old and New Testament. In the OT, sacrifices are made. A predetermined penalty is paid based on the offense under the law. In the NT the Law is fulfilled, we are no longer under the legalism of the law, but rather the law of love in our hearts. I can see, and hope that you all can as well, that in some cases when we make mistakes, and feelings are hurt, that it would be much easier to pay a legal fine, present a sacrifice or pay some sort of physical restitution or do some sort of penance, than it is to live through the agony of knowing that you have offended.
Living a piece of God's divine wisdom drawn out through scripture can simply be exhausting. Spiritually and emotionally we toil and struggle under the effects of the results of our choices. God created such laws as we see throughout Leviticus. Specific penalties are written for such things as wounding a neighbor's cow, trespassing into a neighbor's vineyard, or accidentally hurting someone. The law goes so deep as to tell you what to do when you break a vow, leak bodily fluids or injuring a man's genitalia. The point I wish to make is not to gross us all out with the minutia in the detail of the law. But rather, it is to point out how much easier it can be to pay a fine, or offer a sacrifice or prayer and walk away, than it is to actually deal with the sin issue in our lives and get ourselves right with God.
We have been sanctified by the body and blood of Christ (I Corinthians 1:2, Hebrews 2:11, Hebrews 10:10), and we need to take this seriously. Sanctified means set apart, made holy, consecrated. We have also been called a Holy Priesthood (I Peter 2:9), in part because of our relationship with the Holy Spirit living in us. In this manner we know (book smarts) that we are sanctified. But we need to be consciously aware of this, and make it true to our psyche and spirit. Here's an example:
When we think of the Alter in the Temple of Jerusalem we might think of sanctified or consecrated. We understand that it is a Holy thing, set apart for the precious and intimate work of God. We understand that as it is a clear picture. But what if you or I walked into the Temple and saw the altar defiled. What if we saw blood on the altar that we knew was the blood of a pig sacrificed there by a one who rejects the Living God? If we knew it to be right, and knew it within our power, anyone of us might jump at the opportunity to cleanse that alter, and return it to its sanctified state. Anyone with a heart for the Lord would wish to do the same, no matter what the cost.
But we ourselves are sanctified. We ourselves are living alters of God if you will, with the power to take whatever is placed upon us in life, and sanctify it to the glory of God. When we sin against God as David said he had done in Psalm 51, we have poured the blood of pigs onto the altar of the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have invited evil through the doors of grace, and showed it the way to the altar of our hearts. Yet what is our reaction when this sin becomes known? Do we rush to the altar to cleans it from its defilement, or do we spray-paint the altar with gold colored paint, and hope that no one notices the stains beneath?
This is what we must change in our lives, and this is why living under grace is an infinitely harder task than living under the law. The law breeds legalism, and man's methods to cleanse a situation man's way, when the only way it can honestly be done is by sanctifying ourselves before God, humbly going to Him in prayer and repentance for the peace that surpasses all understanding. Simply think about that: you know that the altar is dirty but you refuse to properly clean it? It's like knowing that the burger you are about to serve is full of e-coli, and yet you figure if you put enough ketchup on it before you service it, no one will notice!
I made an error in judgment in how to deal with a situation the other day. The end result was in effect, what I was looking to get, but because I did not really consult the Lord in prayer before hand, the process caused hurt feelings. While hurt feelings can be forgiven, and people can move past offenses, if I do not take every possible step to cleanse the altar of my heart from the defilement that I put on it, I am not doing my job. It hurts me far more to know that in the work of serving God that I have offended another, than it does to have a sin of my own. It is times like this that drive some men to seek the simplicity of legalism for personal cleansing; a prayer, a sacrifice, an offering paid or done is so much easier than going before God on our knees and confessing that we have wronged Him by defiling ourselves, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, with sin of our own choosing.
I take responsibility for my sin, and Father forgive me as I ask that you forgive us all for our offenses. The "Lord's Prayer" and Psalm 51 came alive in me today, and I pray that through my repentance I too, like David, can have a clean heart, Oh, God.
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