He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.
Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
By whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the Lord.
Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
shall never be disturbed. (Ps 15:2-5)
We are a culture of pill-poppers. When we have a headache, we take an aspirin. When we are anxious, we take Xanax. When we cannot sleep, we take Lunesta. When we hurt, we take Vicodin. We have a “remedy” for whatever ails us.
We often ail spiritually.
One of the reasons we ail spiritually, according to many people including the psalmist, is that we do not live our lives appropriately. When we live against the teachings of our God, we suffer inside.
There is no pill we can take to counteract that suffering.
However, there is something to take care of what ails us:
- walk blamelessly and do justice,
- think the truth in our hearts,
- do not engage in slander nor take a reproach against our neighbor,
- honor those who fear the Lord,
- lend not unfairly to others, and
- accept no bribe against the innocent.
When we do these things, we find ourselves living with an inner peace that cannot be shaken no matter what the world may try throwing at us.
It might seem “simple” in a world that often looks at remedies outside of ourselves. However, living an appropriately Christian life is all the remedy that we need.
FAITH ACTION: Try to live you life this day enumerated by the virtues in today’s psalm.