DynaMOMENTS – Being Careful to Lead and Conducting Our Affairs For Blameless Living
Psalm 101:2
“I will be careful to lead a blameless life – when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.”
We continue the topic of blameless living as we look at verse 2 of Psalm 101. First, please notice the word “careful” used in this verse. Whenever I hear the word careful I think of having concern or avoiding danger. We know that a careful person is the type of individual we would like to teach our children or to be our surgeons. We also know that we try to drive “carefully”. If we are next to a cliff or a fire, we are very “careful” so we do not get hurt. We often command our children or those we love to “be careful”. All of these represent situations where being careful is highly necessary, and we appreciate the reminder. We are not upset if someone tells us to be careful in these circumstances, nor do we even question the value of the reproach or reminder.
But how many of us have ever thought about being “careful” to avoid what is not blameless. In other words, how many of us are careful to avoiding losing our innocence over committing wrong, no matter how little it may seem. Sure, we “try” not to sin; we “try” not to offend others; we “try” not to do the obvious wrongs that are so evident, but how many of us are trying to avoid the somewhat minor wrongs such as seemingly minor slips of the tongue, perversity, judgment, anger, gossip, jealousy, imprudence, sighing or any other breech in character or effort with the same caution that we would if we were walking on a cliff. This is the type of “being careful” that I want you and I to imbed in our daily routines of dealing with people and any circumstance. Be so careful that you avoid all of these or any other wrongdoings. Even a slight breech could be your destruction just as a slight misstep on a cliff could mean your death. Have you heard the little phrase, “an innocent glance turns into romance”. Ouch! A whole family destroyed by someone or two people who weren’t “careful to lead a blameless life”. I am not talking about sinners who don’t trust in God either. I am talking about those of us, we sinners, who do trust in God. We are the one who are to be careful about living a blameless life.
Taking it a step further, consider these types of “careful” actions that we commonly hear are implemented by many struggling people who are looking for success. An alcoholic would not dare to take the first drink lest he or she fall off the wagon. Truly, they would avoid the environment where such a temptation existed. A person endeavoring to lose weight and eat for nourishment wouldn’t dare to take the first bite of a trigger food lest it end in a full-blown binge. A person who struggles with anger would be wise to not open their mouth or approach their nemesis if not in a condition to refrain from ungodly behavior or speech. It is true, even the smallest little step such as keeping our mouth shut is an endeavor to “be careful to live a blameless life”. Actually, this is not really a small step; it is a major action like the “rudder of a ship” which controls the massive object.
Think about how careful a baseball pitcher is with each pitch; how careful a basketball player is while shooting a free throw; how careful a speech writer is with each word carefully selected. Why do we minimize the need or requirement to be careful about our daily habits or actions any less than these stars? Furthermore, consider other experts or people we admire for their excellent abilities – a pianist, a violin player, a gymnast, a carpenter hanging the plumb line. We must not be any less careful than these qualified and respected individuals who are only after the goal of doing the job right, not of blameless living to honor God. We should be even more diligent than they.
Next consider the phrase “conduct the affairs of my house”. You might be saying to yourself that you do a pretty good job of blameless living while in public. After all, when we are in public we are usually surrounded by observers or people we are tying to impress or please. We might be surrounded by people who are in authority over us such as our boss or people we depend on or need or those we serve in our work. Yes, we might do a very excellent job of being blameless in these situations, but the phrase we are looking at here is about “in our own house”.
How many of us treat our families with the same regard and courtesy that we treat those we encounter in public? I certainly don’t. I fail to speak greetings with enthusiasm. I fail to give complete attention. I fail to use the courtesy of please and thank you with consistency. Instead of thinking about our success in public, let’s consider how we conduct the affairs of our own houses. If we aren’t living blamelessly in our own houses, we are failing to live a blameless life.
Let’s back up a bit because the question posed by the psalmist between these two phrases is important. He asked, “When will you come to me?” As I consider this, I wonder why the psalmist asked this question. If we stop and pause between the three parts of this verse and try to feel the emotion that the psalmist might be feeling, we might come to the conclusion that the psalmist has had an epiphany. First, he states, “I will be careful to live a blameless life,” which is a great proclamation, goal, and achievement. So why would he ask, “When will you come to me?” Here is my answer. The psalmist realizes that an inconsistency exists between his outward blameless living and his “in my own house” blameless living. With this realization, he admits he doesn’t feel the presence of God, and so he commits to this: “I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.”
I do not claim that this is exactly what is going on, but for me, I am challenged by the point to assess the affairs of my own house. In fact, this conducting of affairs could be the affairs of your own personal house, that of your heart. We might look good on the outside, but our hearts could be far from blameless. If we strive to value others, to motivate them, to empower them, to serve them and to do this from a heart that wants to lead people to what is good, we have the right mindset or the right attitude, that of love.
Remember, our life is not about ourselves; it isn’t about our agenda or our goals; it isn’t about our needs being met. Our lives are about honoring God and doing His will for the enhanced benefit of everyone for eternity. By being careful to live a blameless life and by conducting the affairs of our house with a blameless heart, we won’t have to wonder about when God “will come” to us, for He will indeed be with us while all the heavenly hosts who do His bidding minister to us along the way.
Be blameless, my friends. Be blameless to honor Him today.