Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalms 19:14 NRSV
In modern parlance, the word "acceptable" may have negative connotations. It's better than "unacceptable," but it still is a pretty weak word. For example, if you were to look up synonyms, you would find words such as adequate, common, decent, fair, respectable, sufficient, tolerable, and admissible. If we were to receive a performance rating of "adequate" on our jobs, we wouldn't be too flattered.
But acceptable as it is used in this verse raises the meaning to a whole new level. It harkens back to the early days of animal sacrifice when the gift to God was to be unblemished and perfect to be accepted as an offering. Only the best was to be given to God!
While animal sacrifice is no longer part of our worship (thank goodness), we offer our hearts to God. The words that come out of our mouths, our thoughts, and our actions all emanate from our hearts. When we accept Christ, we have changes in our hearts–God does this for us. However, our responsibility is to maintain the cleanliness of our hearts so they may be acceptable to God.
As by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are made pure. It is by walking with the Holy Spirit we remain so. In daily prayer and meditation, we take spiritual inventory, identifying anything impure and asking forgiveness–which is freely given. In this way, the one gift that God desires, our heart, is made acceptable.
Loving Father, thank you for the blood of your Son that had removed the stain of sin from our hearts. Help us be aware of the Holy Spirit in our daily walk, keeping our hearts pure so that our lives may be an acceptable sacrifice to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Tim
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