Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? (Ps 24)

David the psalter gave the answer to this question.


He who has clean hands and a pure heart.  This reminds me of what was said similarly in James 4:8, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  I believe 'hands' here speaks of actions - do we lie, cheat, backbite, slander, gossip, ill-treat, etc against humanity? 'Hearts' speak of our attitude or motive - do we silently wish others harm or harbour jealousy and unforgiveness towards others?


Let the Spirit of God convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment so that we may repent of our sins and seek the cleansing that comes from Jesus' blood. This is the righteousness that comes from God (v 5b). Only then can we continually stand in God's holy place to worship and adore Him (v 3).


The wonderful promise for us who seek God is that we would receive a blessing from the LORD (v 5).  Such is the generation of those who seek after God (v 6).  Reflecting on our own generation and time, we see the demands placed on the family unit - work and school commitments, apart from taking care of close relationships esp in an aging population.  Our children are now more tech-savvy and able to access information from the web.  We have to monitor and guide (and possibly set a guard over unhealthy websites) our children concerning what is good wholesome and healthy.


As parents, we are to raise and perpetuate a godly generation (Mal 2:14-15) in the midst of an ever changing world environment that grows more sinister which each passing day.  Family devotions will come under attack due to lack of time.  One way we overcome this in our family is to spend time praying in the car on Sunday nights while making our way back from our parents' place.  Each one is to say a prayer of thanksgiving (reflecting on the past week) and supplication (new grace for the coming week). 


Another Christian discipline that would come under attack is our own personal devotional time with the LORD.  Are we modelling the way for our children?  Do our children see not only the times we spend with the LORD but our attitudes and behaviour that reflect Christ-like character?  We have to recognise that as adults, we play an instrumental role in moulding and shaping the lives of young ones that we come into contact with on a regular basis.  Of course, the moulding and shaping cut both ways, it can be for good or bad. 


Let's raise a godly generation starting with us.  It will have a multiplying effect if we do it right because our children will grow up and influence those that come after them in a godly way.