Read Psalm 52:1-4. 1Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. 4You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
The evil mighty man that David calls out here is no mere caricature. He has a specific person in mind here – Doeg, the Edomite, who at King Saul’s command murdered Ahimelech the priest for helping David.
Maybe you can envision a specific person from these verses as well. A boss who would cut people off for their own gain. A co-worker bent on self-promotion. A backstabbing friend or ex. The abuser that stole your innocence. The smug relative who knows it all at every family gathering. The cruel parent for whom nothing is ever good enough.
The cause of such betrayal is always the same, you love evil more than good. Disordered loves. Loving the self more than God will always lead to harming others. Doeg loved power and influence with the divinely forsaken King Saul more than he loved God’s newly anointed king and the priests of God serving at the Tabernacle. Therefore, he became an agent of destruction.
What do you love most? Where are your loves disordered? Where might evil, lying, and devouring words be replacing what is good, right, and true in your heart? Are you an agent of destruction at work, at home, at church?
In Christ we have the power we need to re-order our loves into Christ’s own loves. His own desires lie deep within. Deeper than our desires for success, for approval, for revenge, for comfort. To live is Christ is to dig deep into our hearts and root out all selfish motivations and replace them with a vision of Christ’s sacrificial love.
Prayer. Jesus, reveal my disordered loves. Put things back into your order. God. Others. Me. Amen.
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To Live is Christ 