{"id":2296,"date":"2015-08-18T17:27:44","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T23:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=2296"},"modified":"2015-08-18T17:27:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T23:27:44","slug":"a-commitment-to-an-innocent-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=2296","title":{"rendered":"A Commitment to an Innocent Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"line\">This morning I had my appointment with my Neurologist. He said he had been thinking about me, so it was good timing for my six month follow up. He felt my muscle mass was improving, however the reflects in my right leg are still pretty weak. Overall, he was pleased to note some progress. I will be following up with some nerve conduction studies and a cat-scan on my neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\"><strong>BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY&#8230;\u00a0<\/strong><em>&#8220;&#8230;<span id=\"en-NCV-15414\" class=\"text Ps-101-2\">I will be careful to live an innocent life.<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-2\">When will you come to me? <\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Ps-101-2\">I will live an innocent life in my house.&#8221;<\/span><\/em> Psalm 101:2<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\">This psalm of David is entitled, <em>&#8220;A Promise to Rule Well&#8221; <\/em>it reflects his commitment to be a person of integrity and to rule from an <em>&#8220;innocent life.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>Even though human perfect is not possible there are some commitments that enable us to live the life that pleases the Lord.<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>An Innocent life has a focus on the Lord.<\/strong><\/span> <em>&#8220;<span class=\"chapter-3\"><span class=\"text Ps-101-1\">I will sing of your love and fairness;<\/span><\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-1\"><span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>, I will sing praises to you.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/em> (Psa. 101:1) A life built upon the foundation of understanding the Lord&#8217;s love and faithfulness provides the motivation and focus to live an innocent life. David understood his need of the Lord.<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">An innocent life begins at home.<\/span> <\/strong><em>&#8220;<span class=\"text Ps-101-2\">I will live an innocent life in my house.&#8221;<\/span><\/em> (Psa. 101:2) Much is discussed about the importance of the consistency between the <em>&#8220;public&#8221;<\/em> and <em>&#8220;private&#8221;<\/em> life of a leader. We see this reflected in the words of David who was a leader of men before becoming a ruler of men. True leadership begins with oneself and in ones own home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">An innocent life is supported by the company you keep<\/span><\/strong>. <em>&#8220;<span class=\"text Ps-101-3\">I hate those who turn against you;<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-3\">they will not be found near me. <\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NCV-15416\" class=\"text Ps-101-4\">Let those who want to do wrong stay away from me;<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-4\">I will have nothing to do with evil.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/em> (Psa. 101:3,4) David realized that the strength of his own integrity was dependent upon those closest him. He need wise and god-honoring advisers.\u00a0 There is a leadership adage that says, <em>&#8220;those closest to you determines your level of success.&#8221; <\/em>David recognized this when he said, <em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NCV-15418\" class=\"text Ps-101-6\">I will look for trustworthy people<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-6\">so I can live with them in the land. <\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Ps-101-6\">Only those who live innocent lives<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-6\">will be my servants.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/em> (Psa. 101:6)<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">An innocent life holds others accountable.<\/span><\/strong> <em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NCV-15417\" class=\"text Ps-101-5\">If anyone secretly says things against his neighbor,<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-5\">I will stop him. <\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Ps-101-5\">I will not allow people<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"> <span class=\"text Ps-101-5\">to be proud and look down on others.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/em> (Psa. 101:5) It takes courage and strength to stop someone who is <em>&#8220;talking down&#8221;<\/em> about someone else. I have appreciated those in my life who were willing to stop someone in this kind of act and say, <em>&#8220;I know Ken Summers and what you are saying is not true!&#8221; <\/em>I was visiting recently with a leader who mentioned the challenge of people disagreeing with him, but talking to others, and not him. When that happens a person with integrity will ask the complainer, <em>&#8220;have you discussed you feelings with______?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"line\">Living a life of innocence, a life of integrity is a challenge. But the steps we take and the commitments we hold can make a difference. The issue is not our perfection, the issue is our commitment to a life that is honorable and on that acknowledges the Lord and trusts in His love, forgiveness and fairness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"line\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning I had my appointment with my Neurologist. He said he had been thinking about me, so it was good timing for my six month follow up. He felt my muscle mass was improving, however the reflects in my right leg are still pretty weak. Overall, he was pleased to note some progress. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2297,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296\/revisions\/2297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}