We have just celebrated the extraordinary festival of Easter, celebrating the victory of Christ over sin and death. I hope that, for each of us, it was a time when we marvelled again at how great is the love of God for us. I hope our love for Him and our desire to serve Him have been renewed. I have been reading Psalm 24 again. This is a psalm that brings us back to a perspective on life that we forget all too quickly.

1. It ALL belongs to God. (v.1 and 2) ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.’ V.1. Too soon we see ourselves as owners of these things. We talk about what we have and what we want – ‘my car’, ‘my house’ etc., or, ‘my wife’, ‘my husband’, ‘my children’- forgetting that it is all a gift of God and that it all belongs to Him. If we were more conscious of that fact, perhaps we would not only be more thankful but we would also live life differently- seeing it in the proper perspective.

2. It is ALL of grace (v.3-6) ‘Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?’ (v.3). None of us can claim to have a pure heart, clean hands, to be innocent of any lie. No-one can approach God. But He came to us in Jesus. By His death on the Cross and His resurrection He gives us a pure heart and He declares me worthy to come before Him. Let us never forget the grace of the pardon that God offers us in Jesus. This will keep us humble.

3. It is ALL for Him. (v.7-10) ‘Lift up your heads, O you gates, be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.’ (v.7) God is the great King. He does not want just one part of us. He wants all of us. The gates must be lifted up higher to welcome Him. Are we ready to continually open our hearts even more so that God might occupy the whole?

May we be more and more conscious that everything comes from God. He created it all. He has forgiven us and He wants all of us. May we be lost in wonder again before Him and seek to live a life that truly glorifies Him so that the world will see what a great God we serve, a God worthy to receive our praise.

Luc Salsac