He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psalm 24:4-5
This seems to be a compounding verse when applied to our life especially when we gain a proper perspective of worship. Worship is after all what this passage is about. Too often we can make the mistake of thinking of worship as being relegated to the singing portion of a church service. But true worship is so much more.
If we back up to verse 3 it says this,
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
In order to approach the Lord in a worthy manner, we must align ourselves with His will for our life.
1 Peter 1:15-16 instructs us,
But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage]; because it is written, “You shall be holy (set apart), for I am holy.”
When we seek the Lord, we need to humble ourselves and step away from our agendas, our desires, our demands and simply worship God. Set apart. We are to leave the contamination of this world and our sins in the hands of the Holy Spirit as we reaffirm Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The accuracy of Psalm 24:4 seems beneficial when we understand that living in this world dirties our hands simply because of the contact we have with it. Temptations and our flesh war against our hearts, but surrender washes a purity in. Our heart becomes aligned with the Father when we seek His holiness and righteousness.
I don’t think any of us would argue that in our prayer and worship time, we need to approach the Lord in such a manner. But what about the rest of the time?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Colossians 3:17; And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Romans 12:1; I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Prayer and worship are not meant to be segregated from the rest of our lives. Rather, they are to drive all things. Our faith is meant to envelope our entire life and all things are to be affected and driven by our faith. That changes everything. But how often do we segregate our faith? We attempt to put it in a nice little box along with all the other boxes in our life. Things such as work, family, recreation, relationships, etc… But that also means we segregate Jesus. I guess this philosophy would grant us (in our minds) a justification to do what we want, as long as it doesn’t contact our faith box. In other words, dirty hands and an impure heart when we are in our other boxes as long as we get dressed in our Sunday best for our faith box.
But I just don’t see it. Jesus never said He wants a part of us. He wants us all, mind, body, spirit. When we are at work, when we are at play. Leading our families, guiding our relationships.
Therefore, clean hands and a pure heart are to be an everyday pursuit as we long to live a life that honors and respects the Holy God we serve.
Jason Metz, lead Pastor
