Monday, March 2, 2015


March 3, 2015

Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
    Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
    purify me from my sin!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
    my sin is always right in front of me.
I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
    I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
    completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
    from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
    you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
    wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
    let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins;
    wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
    please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
Return the joy of your salvation to me
    and sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
    and sinners will come back to you.

For the next three days we will look at the Three General Rules of the United Methodist Church and how they transformed and gave new life to the individuals and community of the early Methodist movement.  You will find a link to a website at the bottom of today’s devotion where you can read them as originally written. While the instructions that spell out how they should be practiced are dated, the same rules are appropriate to lead us to a holy way of living.  How do we practice them today?

Rule 1 – Do no harm, avoid evil of every kind.

Specifically, John Wesley mentioned these:
Taking God’s name in vain.
Working, buying, or selling on Sunday
Drunkenness
Fighting, quarreling, taking another to court, returning evil for evil
Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation
Doing to others what we would not want them to do to us
Doing what we know is not for the glory of God
Wearing expensive jewelry and clothes
Singing songs or reading books that do not lead us to know or love God
Needless self-indulgence
Laying up treasure on earth
Borrowing what you can’t pay back

                  Bishop Rueben Job wrote a more contemporary explanation of these rules and asks us to think of it in this way:  Think of a group that is locked in conflict, whether over a profound issue or one that is just silly.  The conflict is real, the divisions deep, and the consequences can often be devastating.  If all who are involved can agree to do no harm, the climate in which the conflict is going on is immediately changed.  How is it changed?  Well, if I am going to do no harm, I can no longer gossip about the conflict.  I can no long speak disparagingly about those involved in the conflict.  I can no longer manipulate the facts of the conflict.  I can no longer diminish those who do not agree with me and must honor each as a child of God.  I will guard my lips, my mind and my heart so that my language will not disparage, injure or wound another child of God.  I must do no harm, even while I seek a common good.[1]

Prayerfully consider these questions and challenges from John Wesley and Reuben Job.  Then read again Psalm 51, the prayer of confession prayed by King David after the prophet Nathan had pointed out the harm and evil he had committed in taking Bathsheba. (2 Samuel 11-12). Pray Psalm 51 as a prayer of confession and repentance.  


To read John Wesley’s General Rules of the Methodist Church





[1] Reuben P. Job.  Three Simple Rules:  A Wesleyan Way of Living.  Abingdon Press, 2007.

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