LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? — Psalm 15:1
One time, I was sitting in an office with several members of my team, and we were reviewing resumes. Quite a few people had applied for a job with our company, and we were tasked with finding the best candidate. At that time, the job market was a lot more difficult than it is today. People were aggressive in their search for jobs as jobs were scarce.
On one side, we set out the job description. While we knew what the job entailed, we were not able to recite from memory the qualifications of the job. They were required to be a licensed healthcare worker in this position. That required specific training, including a college degree. Another qualification listed was a specific length of experience. We were able to take the many resumes and compare them to the qualifications.
As we dug through the pile of papers, we found that no one was qualified for the role we were hiring for based on the qualifications. The requirements of the job as listed were extremely high. No one held the required training, education, and experience.
In this Psalm, David asks a question that should cause us all to reflect and encourage us. at the end of this verse, he asks, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? The question is essentially who is qualified to dwell with God in His holy place? If we look over the qualifications, we will all quickly see that none of us are qualified!
Nothing of ourselves qualifies us for Heaven. Thankfully, the story does not end there. While we may not be qualified of ourselves, we are qualified through the blood of Jesus Christ! God is not looking for money, training, licensure, or anything else. He is simply looking for the blood of Jesus.
Don’t get discouraged when you look at yourself and see sin, fault, and failure. Those are all things of this world. God is looking at your heart. He’s looking to see if the blood of Jesus has been applied. If it has, He says you are worthy and more than qualified!
Jared Dyson
Another Well Ministries
"On your own" is a key phrase, that I can agree with. Otherwise, it is a grave misrepresenting of scripture to teach that once saved, nothing further is required on our part, or that it is impossible, having been saved, to lose salvation, regardless of what evil we then do.
"Work out your faith in fear and trembling" - St. Paul
"Faith without works is dead" - St James
"Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" - Jesus.
Faith involves an assenting decision, baptism provides sanctifying grace, which enables our intellect and will to act in conformity with God's will, to merit further graces for ourselves and those for whom we intercede.
Far from being "dung hills covered with snow", God begins and continues the process of transforming us interiorly, with our cooperation, in this life.
While we will fall short of perfection in this life, we have Our Savior's own words to try, and don't give up, but keep trying, with His grace, to obey and serve God in all we do.
Yes, God does the heavy lifting, but it is also necessary each day to continue to assent to and act on our faith, lest, as St Paul says, "pray for me, that having preached to you, I may not fall away [be rejected, lose the prize, be castaway]".