#244 WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE YOU? 10-6-26
Psalm 15 begins with two questions that reach deeper than appearances: “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” David is not asking who can look religious. He is asking what kind of person can walk with God.
The answer is not complicated, but it is searching. God cares about the kind of people we become. Faith is not merely what we say on Sunday. It is revealed in how we walk, how we work, and how we speak.
HOW WE WALK
“He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:2).
The first description is a walk. Our walk is the direction of our life. We may stumble along the way, but there should be a direction toward God.
Enoch “walked with God” (Genesis 5:24). Micah asked what the Lord requires of us and answered, “To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Paul told the Christians at Ephesus to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1).
Walking with God means that our faith follows us home. It follows us into our conversations, our decisions, our business dealings, our families, our friendships, and the private places nobody else sees.
A man may fool a congregation. He may impress a crowd. But God sees the walk.
HOW WE WORK
Psalm 15 says the man who dwells with God “works righteousness.” What we believe eventually becomes what we do. “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (James 2:14). He went on to say, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).
Good works do not purchase God’s grace. They demonstrate that grace has changed us. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
A Christian who does what is right when doing what is wrong would be easier is powerful. Integrity is righteousness practiced when there is something to lose.
God is interested not only in what we claim to believe, but in what our hands are doing with what we believe.
HOW WE USE WORDS
Psalm 15 becomes especially personal when David turns to the tongue. The righteous man “does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend” (Psalm 15:3).
Words reveal the heart. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). James described the tongue as something that can bless God and then turn around and curse people made in God’s likeness (James 3:9-10).
We can sing praises to God and still wound somebody with our words before the day is over.
The man of Psalm 15 refuses to make gossip his entertainment. He does not destroy someone’s reputation simply because he possesses information. He does not use truth as a weapon for cruelty. He understands that words have weight.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
What kind of person are you?
Not merely what kind of preacher, husband, wife, mother, father, employee, neighbor, or church member are you, but what kind of person are you when God examines the whole of your life?
Psalm 15 closes with a beautiful promise: “He who does these things shall never be moved” (Psalm 15:5).
The world may shift. Circumstances may change. People may disappoint us. But a life built upon walking uprightly, working righteousness, and speaking truth has a foundation that will stand.
God is not looking for perfection without failure. He is looking for integrity that keeps turning toward Him.
Walk right.
Work righteousness.
Watch your words.
And above everything else, walk with God.
____________________
Father, search our hearts and show us what kind of people we are becoming. Help us walk uprightly, work righteousness, and speak words that honor You and bless others. Forgive us where our walk has been crooked, our works have been selfish, and our words have caused harm. Make our lives steady, truthful, useful, and faithful. Above all, teach us to walk humbly with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
BD
