Psalm 101
Worship God by Obeying God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, July 25.
Whereas Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving to the God who is faithful to all generations, Psalm 101 is a commitment to act faithfully as one of God’s people. It is empty praise indeed when your life doesn’t reflect the God you say you worship! The truest form of worship is obedience, as we learned from Samuel’s rebuke of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”
Honestly, reading Psalm 101 right after 100 feels like whip lash, but both psalms reflect God’s heart. We serve a God who is full of truth and grace, and one cannot be compromised for the sake of the other! God calls us to a life of devotion, which is more than a devotional life; it is the wholehearted pursuit of holiness. Psalm 101:1-3 teaches us about true worship:
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, to You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me.
Your life sings God’s praises best when your Monday through Saturday words and deeds align with your Sunday worship. Jesus was clear to His disciples, saying without equivocation in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” The purest expression of worship is obedience!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 101, meditating upon the proof of your love for Jesus Christ – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-27). Obey today!
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.