I’ve been looking forward to reaching Psalm 15 in my journey through a contemplative approach to this amazing book of prayers, poems and songs. I’m not a purist in how I treat my Bible. I make notes in it and have bits highlighted. There are critics who have a go at highlighting stuff in our Bibles because ‘it’s all the word of God’ and they’re right. But at different stages in my life there are things I want to remind myself of, have my eyes and attention caught by and highlighting helps that happen.

Psalm 15 is one of my highlighted passages so when flicking through the Psalms it grabs my attention. It’s about how we live. Its focus isn’t about making sure we’ve got our doctrine and dogma all lined up in a beautiful row. Rather, like Jesus, it places its focus on how we live. It makes me think of the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 and the call to see Jesus in those living through injustice. It answers the question of how we, in our side of the relationship with God, can draw near to Him. It gives the answer of living a ‘right’ life – a life of justice and integrity.

It tells us to speak the truth honestly; to not slander others; to treat others with integrity; to keep our promises even when it hurts; to be generous to the poor and to not act in a way that places the innocent in harms way. It challenges us to live beyond a holy bubble.

I love the way it closes in the NIV with the last part of verse 5 “Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”

This is a firm life with solid foundations. When we live in such a way we can rest assured that even if others rage against us, we’re living with as much integrity and honesty as we can – we can’t do much more than that and so we can be at peace.

We can know all the right stuff, ‘believe’ all the right things and talk and pray up a good game, but if our lives don’t line up, that stuff is worthless. I reckon God is more interested in how we live with what we’ve got and how we treat others rather than the list of what we know and the fancy words we can use when talking those things up.

It’s a great challenge to those of us who have far too much of an emphasis on making sure everyone is believing the right stuff while neglecting how we live. Now, of course these things aren’t mutually exclusive, but how we live demonstrates what we really believe at our deepest core, not just what we give intellectual agreement to.

May we be people of integrity and honesty. May we be people who treat everyone fairly and generously. In so doing may our character show a little more of the God we worship to the world in which we live.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.