"A Taste for Virtue"

"But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." (Psalms 63:11) Every once in a while I get something right; on a good day, I actually get more than one thing right! There are a couple of different ways to read this verse, and depending on where you stand with God, there is only one way that makes perfect sense. First of all, "king" is most likely speaking of the "Messiah", who we know has already came, and His name is Jesus! Secondly, to "sweareth by him" is to swear allegiance to Him, which is paramount to claiming that He is Lord of your life; in other words, if He is Lord of your life, then you have sworn your allegiance to Him by accepting who He is and all that He has done for you. Thirdly, Jesus came to do the will of the Father; He did not need to display who He was, which was 'God in the flesh', because He came in the form of a Servant, as in "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) Fourthly, "glory" is to be made praiseworthy, or worthy of praise, but it also means to be made into a fool; which oddly enough is what we are in Christ, if you think about it. In Christ we are worthy of praise, yet in this world we are fools! Another way to look at that statement, is to consider what Paul says, and then consider it for yourself... "Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them." (2 Corinthians 5:11-15) NLT