November 10 – Dying To Self

        Psalm 101: 8 – "In the morning, I will put to silence all the wicked of the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of Yahweh."

        On the surface, this verse is one of the strangest that I have read in the Psalms. How does this verse relate to me? Let's unpack this last verse of this psalm, as well as the whole psalm itself. This is quite a short psalm, whose theme is personal integrity. Verses 2 and 3 mention carrying one's personal behavior in one's own house in a sound or complete manner. The NIV uses the word "blameless", that nebulous term that almost sounds like "perfect" but could also be related to "reputation", as in the idea of someone not being able to blame you for wrongdoing, due to ignorance of the facts. The root of the Hebrew word means "having reached the end of maturity". The Greek word "teleois" also means the same thing, and is used by Jesus in Matthew 5:48: "Be perfect (Gk: teleois), as your heavenly Father is perfect". The odd thing about this latter verse, however, is that the heavenly Father never needed a process to become completely mature. He has always been sinless, perfectly faithful in all his ways. We humans, however, need a process to become mature, complete, striving to become sinless in behavior and thought.

        Back to Psalm 101. The nation of Israel (meaning every person living in the land AND therefore, under the Mosaic law) was commanded by God to obey every law that he gave to Moses (Deuteronomy 27:1). Therefore, in some sense, morality could be forced upon individuals. There are many societal punishments listed in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy for moral sins. David, as recalled in Acts 13:22, was a man after God's heart. Therefore, it is not surprising to read the words of this Psalm, which is credited to David the King, the supreme leader of the nation. Outward morality was highly pursued to ensure God's blessings on the nation, as described in Deuteronomy 28. This is even commensurate today with some Muslim nations, which use Shariah law in their societies to enforce moral behavior. The actions in verses 7 and 8 could literally be enforced by David in his own household and at the city gates, which would have been shut and locked nightly. Therefore, in the morning, certain immoral fellows could have been blocked from entering the city if so deemed.

        Fast forward now to the new covenant, where we are not under law, nor the curse of the law (Romans 6:14; Galatians 3:10-14). We Christians no longer live in a theocratic, physical nation. We all live among pagans, in many different types of governments. However, all Christians live in the spiritual kingdom of God, serving one King and Master, who still expects obedience to all his moral ways. Therefore, verses 7 and 8 can be construed as personal commands to oneself, seeing that we ourselves are the city with gates(openings). (See Luke 11:34 & 8:18 for references to bodily openings related to light/darkness [good and evil]). We are the dwelling of the Holy Spirit; we are the city of God (1 Corinthians 6:19; Matthew 7:14; Hebrews 12:22). We are the individuals who have to secure one's "city" from the evildoers. Colossians 3:1-10 gives us the clear command that is the spiritual fulfillment of Psalm 101:7, 8: "Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above.....set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God....put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed....because of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed [to maturity] in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

        One thing to note further: John Bunyan understood this concept, when he wrote his book The Holy War: The Battle for Mansoul, in 1682. This is a lesser-known book from the author of The Pilgrim's Progress, but is just as important and relevant as an allegory of spiritual growth.