Psalm 66

In my meditation on Psalm 65 I noted, “For many years the church has been retreating from the public sector and making the Christian faith a matter of personal and private piety.” This retreat is also occurring within local churches. Each year fewer members are active in their local church. In the area where I live, I picked four churches at random, and found the average attendance was 40% of their membership. I suspect that may be higher than most areas. For most churches, only 25% to 30% of those that attend worship services are actively involved in the ministries of their church.

The first half of Psalm 66 is devoted to the corporate life of Israel as the people of God. The psalmist’s personal piety is the subject of the second half of the psalm. This can be a good model for us because the effectiveness of our witness for Christ, through our participation in the life of our church, is conditioned upon the quality of our personal piety. Our participation in the life of the church can also be an encouragement to more fully develop our personal relationship with Christ.

The Apostle Paul stressed the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. Much like Psalm 66, Paul divided his great second chapter of his letter to the Philippians by stressing both corporate and personal piety. He begins with a call for the church to work “together with one mind and purpose” (Philippians 2:2). He then launches in to a call for personal piety, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:5). He then returns to his theme of corporate unity.

As we seek the life in Christ as our way of life, our personal devotional life and our participation in the life of our church go together, hand and glove. The more we make it our goal to grow in these areas, the closer we come to the time “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

<><  <><  <><  <><

These meditations are available by email. Contact me at Amkrom812@gmail.com to be added to the email list.

This BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Reading for July 7, 2012            Psalm 67