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“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors…” –– Psalm 15:1-3
What’s the old adage? –– Don’t do anything you’d have to make an excuse for later. I guess that could be one way to interpret the psalmist’s advice to walk blamelessly. Of course, I learned long ago that walking blamelessly is about as feasible as winning Powerball … without a ticket. Blame is like that little splotch of road tar on the sole of your Nikes. It is going to live with you as long as the sole remains, and you’ll find that everybody has been walking across a stretch of fresh hot asphalt somewhere along the way. Forgiven? Perhaps. Blameless? Now, that is rare indeed. Yet, it remains a laudable goal and is often a capable guard against your worst impulses.
The rest of the psalmist’s advice doesn’t seem quite as impossible as hiking to the peak of blameless –– do what is right, speak truth from a heart of love, don’t be the one to malign someone’s character, don’t insult, defraud, wound, or abandon a friend; the next time you want to give a neighbor “a piece of your mind” … don’t. In public, at least, we’ll sign that covenant. However, in practice and in private and shielded by the illusory anonymity of the internet … not so much. Along with Paul, we must confess –– “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.” We want to be nice; wouldn’t want to secure a laugh at someone else’s expense; wouldn’t plan on shading the truth to make ourselves look good or avoid blame; wouldn’t daydream about exacting revenge following a personal slight –– but then, there’s a pause in the conversation about a problematic colleague or an irritating neighbor, and it’s game on! The suddenly sharpened tongue slices through someone’s character like a scalpel through flesh, harsh words which cannot be taken back or dismissed with the king of useless excuses –– I was only kidding.
Somehow, we get sidetracked on the road from intention to blameless. Paul understands our predicament and points to our sole hope –– “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! It is Christ’s mercy that heals our brokenness, yes, but it is more than that. It is Christ’s witness that instructs the count and quality of our words, and it is Christ’s Spirit that provides guardrails for our impulses, smooths the rough edges of our emotions, and converts our baser instincts into a steady flow of kindness. Blameless? Maybe not, but better is always a possibility through the unfailing, always laboring grace of Jesus Christ who will get us up that holy hill.
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