Can We Do Better?

As Christians in this world we must live in the very presence of sin all around us. We must also live with the reality that sin dwells in us. I wish I would never sin now that I am in Christ, but Christ and the apostles teach us that we do. This is why the doctrine of justification is so vital, and Luther called it the article by which the Church rises or falls. Without justification, Christians are left to attempt to earn our salvation. This is impossible. Without justification, all will go to hell. Thank God that by the merits of Christ all believers are justified.

In light of this, I'm referring to the day-to-day struggle with indwelling sin, two psalms come to my mind immediately. As I have stated over and over again, the psalms are for singing not only for reading. Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 come to my mind. Since I began to sing psalms in my devotional life, I've sung Psalm 51 the most. The gospel is there; forgiveness through the gospel is there. The assurance of a sinner's salvation is there.

As I ruminated on this today, I said to myself: "Can we do better?" What I meant is that we can write nothing better that gets at the heart of our sinful condition and the remedy provided by God through Christ. Psalm 51 is sufficient if read, and it is sufficient when sung and prayed. This is why I love to sing the psalms, and this is why I believe we should sing the psalms to the exclusion of all humanly written and devised compositions. We can do no better; it is no contest. The Holy Spirit is God Almighty, and he inspired David, Asaph, Moses, and other psalmists and prophets to write spiritual songs. God has given us these to praise him with, to pray, and to learn of our conditions. If we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture we must believe that the psalms are sufficient for our praise of God. Oh, would the words of the Holy Spirit rest upon our lips as we praise our God! Think about it: is Charles Tindlay greater than the Spirit? Is Thomas Dorsey? Alex Bradford, Andre Crouch, Donald Lawrence, etc.? These gospel song writers are fallible and subject to error. What the Spirit has written is inerrant. Every word is pure; the doctrine is perfect. Perfect praise available to the imperfect.

Pray and sing with me: "God, be merciful to me, On Thy grace I rest my plea; Plenteous in compassion Thou, Blot out my transgression now; Wash me, make me pure within, Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin."