Proverbs 29:27 Am I upright?

The righteous detest the dishonest;
    the wicked detest the upright. (NIV)

An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and 
he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. (KJV)
 

We've studied before, and asked ourselves if we are honest. If we are righteous. If we are godly. Today I found a verse that opened my eyes about the topic, "Am I upright?"

Who is upright? This verse tells us that the honest and righteous person is upright. The verse I found, Job 8:6, gives us another clue:

if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state.

If our desire is to be upright, we must be pure. 

Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51:9-11

If we desire to be upright, we must ask God to help us avoid sins:

Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression. Psalm 19:13

If we are upright, we will be rejoicing; we will be glad in the Lord; we will be righteous:

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
    sing, all you who are upright in heart! Psalm 32:11

Are we upright?  

Proverbs 22: 11 The next of the "do's" for us to consider

⁹ The generous will themselves be blessed,
    for they share their food with the poor.
¹¹ One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace
    will have the king for a friend.

¹² The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
    but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

Today's "do," or something to strive for, is a very tall order. Very tall. There are two things here for us to try to achieve: a pure heart, and speaking with grace.

Let's look at our heart first. How can we have pure hearts? You know the answer here, just as well as I do . . . 

Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Mending it won't work. It has to be created; the sin has to be removed so that the Holy Spirit can dwell with us.  And you and I cannot do it ourselves. Oh, no.  It can only be done by our Father, through salvation, "and that through faith in Christ Jesus" as Paul tells Timothy in II Timothy 3:15.

Here's where the problem comes in --- we all know that our hearts don't stay pure automatically. We can't just set the cruise control, can we? Nope. Psalm 119: 9-16 tells us three things we should do:
                              1. Seek God with all our hearts
                              2. Hide God's word in our hearts 
                              3. Meditate on his Word
See? I told you it was a tall order!
Now let's consider "speaking with grace."

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Col. 4:6

To speak with grace, we need to have grace in our hearts. And, if we are going to follow Colossians 3:17, we are going to "do all in the name of Jesus," aren't we? Hmmmm, I don't think we can yell at our mate in the name of Jesus.....or fuss at the other driver in the name of Jesus....or be peevish waiting in the grocery store line in the name of Jesus. Maybe we should apply some tests to our speech, to see if we are speaking with grace:
             1. Is it true?
             2. Is it complete, or half the story?
             3. Is it necessary?
             4. Is it kind?
What is the result of fulfilling this tall order? Look at the verse --- it's a promise! The king will be our friend. What king? Which king? The Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings will be our Friend.
What an honor, and what a privilege!