{"id":794,"date":"2009-06-14T04:01:08","date_gmt":"2009-06-14T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html"},"modified":"2009-06-14T04:01:08","modified_gmt":"2009-06-14T04:01:08","slug":"sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defending Truth, Humility, and Justice<\/h3>\n

READ Psalm 45:1-17<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0In your majesty, ride out to victory,
\ndefending truth, humility, and justice.
\nGo forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!<\/p>\n

Psalm 45:4<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a boy, I loved watching the Adventures of Superman<\/em> on our black-and-white Motorola television set. How I longed to be just like that \u00e2??strange visitor from another planet\u00e2?\u009d who fought a \u00e2??never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.\u00e2?\u009d
\nSuperman, ironically enough, has much in common with the king who is praised in Psalm 45. This psalm is unusual in that it is addressed, not to God or to the people of Israel, but to the king on the occasion of his wedding (45:13-15). In verse 4, the psalmist urges the king to \u00e2??ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice.\u00e2?\u009d That\u00e2??s not exactly \u00e2??truth, justice, and the American way,\u00e2?\u009d but two out of three ain\u00e2??t half bad.
\nWhen we pray for our leaders, as Scripture urges us to do (1 Tim. 2:2), we should ask the Lord to lead them in the ways of truth, humility, and justice. Yet Psalm 45:4 also provides a model for our behavior in the world. We too are to be people of truth, humility, and justice.
\nAs people of truth, we will speak and live in a way that reflects God and his revelation. In a world of falsehood, in which truth itself is under attack, we will seek the truth in all things, stand for the truth in what we say and do.
\nAs\u00c2\u00a0people of humility, we will never speak the truth in a way that is haughty, as if the truth belongs to us. Moreover, we will always see ourselves as subjects of the King of kings, and offer our lives to him and to others as servants. Thus we will imitate the humble servanthood of Jesus.
\nAs people of justice, we will treat all people fairly and will work for a world that offers justice to all. We will be especially committed to doing justice for the poor and powerless. Where we have been given authority, in our work, our families, our churches, or our community, we will strive for just systems that reflect the character of God.
\nWhen you \u00e2??ride out\u00e2?\u009d today into the world, defend truth, humility, and justice as God\u00e2??s viceroy, God\u00e2??s servant.
\nQUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION<\/strong>: How can you express your commitment to truth today? How can you live with humility? How can you seek God\u00e2??s justice in your part of the world?
\nPRAYER<\/strong>: O Lord, even as the king was to be a person of truth, humility, and justice, so am I. You have called me to speak and to live truthfully. I am to imitate the humility of Jesus and to seek your justice in all things. Help me, dear Lord, to be this kind of person in all that I do.
\nEven as I go through this day, may your Spirit bring to mind ways that I can be more truthful, more humble, and more just. To you be all the glory. Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/a>Would you like to receive a Daily Reflection like this one in your email inbox each morning?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nHere’s how . . . . <\/em><\/strong>
\nThis devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work <\/em>(www.thehighcalling.org<\/a>). You can read my Daily Reflections<\/a> there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox<\/a> each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defending Truth, Humility, and Justice READ Psalm 45:1-17 \u00c2\u00a0In your majesty, ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice. Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds! Psalm 45:4 When I was a boy, I loved watching the Adventures of Superman on our black-and-white Motorola television set. How I longed to be just like that \u00e2??strange…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nSunday Inspiration from The High Calling - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defending Truth, Humility, and Justice READ Psalm 45:1-17 \u00c2\u00a0In your majesty, ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice. Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds! Psalm 45:4 When I was a boy, I loved watching the Adventures of Superman on our black-and-white Motorola television set. How I longed to be just like that \u00e2??strange…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-14T04:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"Defending Truth, Humility, and Justice READ Psalm 45:1-17 \u00c2\u00a0In your majesty, ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice. Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds! Psalm 45:4 When I was a boy, I loved watching the Adventures of Superman on our black-and-white Motorola television set. How I longed to be just like that \u00e2??strange…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2009-06-14T04:01:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html","name":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg","datePublished":"2009-06-14T04:01:08+00:00","dateModified":"2009-06-14T04:01:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-55.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}