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What if living a truly blameless life could transform your actions, relationships, and even your purpose? Join me, Jamie Luce, as we embark on an insightful journey through Psalm 15, focusing particularly on verse four, to uncover the timeless wisdom of living in God’s presence in 2025. With a prayerful mindset, we dive deep into the powerful messages of the scripture, aiming to cultivate a life of integrity and truth-speaking that aligns with divine purpose. This episode builds on foundational insights, so revisiting the earlier parts of the series will enhance your understanding.

Throughout our discussion, we reflect on biblical examples such as Moses and the Israelites, to illustrate the impact of recognizing and dwelling in God’s presence daily. We explore how living blamelessly through the righteousness of Jesus can transform not only our actions but also our responses to life’s challenges. By aligning our lives with God’s purpose, we open ourselves to the guidance and possibilities that His presence offers. Additionally, we tackle the concept of despising contempt and understanding its role within our spiritual values, emphasizing the importance of following divine instructions to avoid spiritual pitfalls.

In exploring the proximity principle from social psychology, we discuss how our environment and the people we surround ourselves with can profoundly affect our emotional states and personal growth. Supported by studies, we highlight the significance of surrounding ourselves with positive influences that encourage faith and discipline, while cautioning against the negative impacts of proximity to harmful influences. This conversation invites you to consider the power of environment in manifesting God’s presence in your life, empowering you to live with intention and purpose. If you find this journey inspiring, please share it with others and leave a review to help spread our message.

Where to dive in:

(0:00:01) – Living in God’s Presence in 2025 (12 Minutes)

This chapter explores how to live in God’s presence in 2025 by examining Psalm 15 verse by verse, focusing on verse 4. I emphasize the importance of not only hearing the Word but applying it to our lives, as true transformation occurs through action. Before diving into the scripture, I encourage listeners to revisit parts one and two for foundational insights. We explore the rich meanings of words within Psalm 15, urging curiosity and deeper understanding rather than dismissing unfamiliar terms. I pray for focus and readiness to receive God’s message, highlighting the psalm’s guidance on blameless living, truth-speaking, and integrity. The aim is to live intentionally with God, drawing closer to Him and fulfilling our divine purpose.

(0:11:39) – God’s Presence in Daily Life (9 Minutes)

This chapter challenges listeners to live in the presence of Jesus Christ and recognize His work in their lives, just as John did when he recognized Jesus by the shore. We explore the concept of dwelling in God’s presence, drawing parallels with the biblical journey of Moses and the Israelites, who witnessed God’s presence through the tent of meeting and the tabernacle. We emphasize the importance of living a blameless life, which means being upright and complete through Jesus’ righteousness. This pursuit of integrity and devout living transforms our actions, responses, and relationships, enabling us to walk in alignment with God’s purpose. Through this, we can fully experience the possibilities and guidance that come from living in His presence.

(0:20:52) – Despising Contempt (20 Minutes)

This chapter examines the concept of despising certain things as a Christian, highlighting the importance of understanding what is contrary to godliness and truth. We explore the meaning of contempt and how it relates to biblical teachings, emphasizing that despising vile behavior aligns with spiritual values. Through a courtroom analogy, we illustrate how disregarding authority, much like ignoring God’s commandments, can lead to dire consequences. By following divine instructions, one preserves life, whereas contemptuous actions lead to spiritual death. Additionally, we discuss the power of words and how life and death are influenced by what we speak. The chapter underscores the importance of aligning one’s actions and words with God’s ways for a life that honors His commands.

(0:40:36) – Proximity and Relationships in Faith (9 Minutes)

This chapter examines the proximity principle in social psychology and its impact on our relationships and attitudes. We explore two key studies that highlight how physical closeness influences the formation of friendships and the development of attitudes. The first study by Festinger, Schachter, and Back at MIT reveals that students are more likely to form close relationships with those living nearby, due to the mere exposure effect. This phenomenon underscores the importance of regularly surrounding ourselves with godly, supportive individuals, such as by attending church and participating in home groups. However, it also warns of the potential negative impact of forming close ties with individuals who may not be beneficial for our spiritual growth, especially in today’s polarized society. The discussion emphasizes the need for intentional, positive associations that encourage faith and discipline.

(0:49:43) – Negative and Positive Proximity Impacts (10 Minutes)

This chapter explores the impact of our environment on personal performance and emotional states. We discuss a study involving 58,000 working hours across 11 companies, which found that sitting within 25 feet of a high performer can increase one’s performance by 15%, while proximity to a low performer can decrease it by 30%. We highlight how negative emotions are more potent than positive ones, necessitating constructive criticism to be delivered with care, using positive reinforcement to offset negativity. We also explore a fascinating study about how fear can be physically sensed through sweat, affecting the amygdala in the brain. Emphasizing the importance of surrounding ourselves with positive influences, I encourage listeners to honor those who live for God and to distance themselves from negativity. By doing so, we can aspire to live in the manifest presence of God in 2025. If you found this insightful, please share it with others and consider leaving a review to support our message.

About your host: Jaime Luce’s testimony has daunting personal mountains and treacherous financial valleys. She was trapped in day-to-day stress and couldn’t see a way forward. But how she started is not how she finished! And she wants you to know God has a plan for your life too, no matter how tough it seems. Today, Jaime has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owns two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. God’s way is always the blessed way!

Free chapter of Jaime’s new book: You Don’t Need Money, You Just Need God: https://jaimeluce.com/book/

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Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

0:00:01 – Jaime Luce
Hi, thanks for tuning in today. This is the Jamie Luce Podcast and it’s my pleasure to spend some time with you and digging into the Word. If you have been with me for the last few weeks, you’ll know that now that we are in 2025, I’m talking about how to live in God’s presence in 2025. And we’re going to be in the book of Psalms, chapter 15, and we’re taking it verse by verse. So today is part three of that, and if you have not heard parts one and two, I encourage you to go back and listen to those. There are some things, especially in week one, that are really good, foundational things to understand in taking it as the springboard for what comes next, each verse that follows. I will touch on that a little bit today, but I just wanted to make you aware. If you want the full emphasis and the full weight of what this passage of scripture has, you’re going to want to go back and listen to that. So do me a favor get out your Bibles. If you haven’t already, let’s go to Psalm 15. And we’re going to. I’m going to read you the whole passage. I’m going to give you just a snippet of background for the very first couple of verses and then we’ll go into where we are today, which is actually verse four. We’re taking a couple sentences out of verse 4. So let me pray with you before we start.

I really feel God’s presence in His and His desire, his desire for us in this year to be not just hearers of the word only, but doers of the word. You can get such good input I mean really good teaching and this could be about anything in your life. Get really good input. Get really good instructions. Know information, like Get really good input. Get really good instructions. Know information, like really get good stuff, but it does you no good if you don’t actually apply it to your life. So I’m hoping that today we get real practical. So I want to pray for us before we start, just to get our minds focused so that our ears are tuned and our eyes are ready to see what we need, to see that our hearts are ready to receive from the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you for today. I thank you for an opportunity to share your word. Your word is power. It is your way to reveal yourself to us and what is available to us in your word. You have been so good to us to show us how you feel, what you think, the way we should live. Instructions for life. It truly is a manual for us, not just for our lives, but to understand you, to be in relationship with you, and I know that it is your desire that this year we live our lives not just going through the motions with you, not living a life with you kind of as a neighbor, so to speak, but to be living with you, dwelling with you, intimate with you, knowing your heart and living and trying to do our best and apply ourselves with intention to accomplish what it is that you have for us to accomplish. So I ask for your covering and your anointing over the word and over this time today, bless each one, as they are taking the time to make sure that your word is a priority in their life. I pray a blessing on them, on this message for them, but on their lives personally, wherever they are needing to see you manifest. We ask, lord, that you manifest and you show yourself strong on their behalf. In Jesus’ name, we pray Amen.

Okay, let’s dig in. So Psalm 15, and there are only five verses in this psalm, but they are really packed, full, powerful. This was a Psalm of David and he asked the question. Well, at least I say he asked the question. He does ask the question in the first verse, but in my Bible it’s titled so the title of this. I know in the original this may or may not have had titles they were songs, many of them, so maybe they did but this says who shall dwell on your holy hill, o Lord? Who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, those who fear the Lord, who swears to his own hurt and does not change, who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

I don’t know if you’re like me I mentioned this in week one but so many times we can look at scripture and we overlook words, their meaning. We kind of especially like a word like sojourn, we just kind of skip over it and the minute we dismiss a word, we kind of dismiss the whole thing that we’re reading, we kind of dismiss the power it has. It’s almost as if in our subconscious we say, oh, that is old, that doesn’t apply to me. I don’t understand what that means, and it’s like we turn a switch off and we don’t allow the word to really penetrate. We don’t allow our minds to become, excuse me, curious. Instead of turning aside to see which was the characteristic Moses had, instead of thinking, wow, I can’t understand why that bush is burning. That’s crazy. I don’t want to be around here. What if it starts a fire? I want out of here, I don’t want to be by this.

Instead, he had curiosity. He turned aside to see this great sight, and I hope that we can look at scripture and words that maybe seem old or out of date. They aren’t a part of our vernacular, we don’t use them. We may sort of know what they mean, we may not, but my hope is that I can, at least you know, prompt you to become curious about it. What does that mean? Because so many times there is such a deep meaning in things that we just skim over. Or it’s the foundation, it’s the platform that the rest sits on and without it the rest of it really doesn’t hold the same weight or meaning. It could kind of collapse in on itself and not be what is truly being spoken or conveyed through that scripture. So I say all that to say in this first verse, a little synopsis oh Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? We are talking about the presence of God. I need to have the presence of God. I am expecting this year that I actually live and see and am moved by the presence of the Lord. If you face anything, things come about. I got a text this morning of a family member who is in desperate need of prayer, very serious prayer request, and without the presence of God, folks, where do we turn?

If you’ve ever been in a church service where there is such a powerful presence of God that it’s like tangible, you may not even be able to put your finger on it, you just know I feel something. I literally feel something. It’s not just on the inside, it’s not just emotions. You actually, your senses are going off. You feel something. I’ve been in the presence of God where literally the weight of his glory was so present. I literally was bent over. It was like it was on me and I was bent over and I couldn’t raise myself up because the weight of his glory was there. It’s like it bows you down in his presence because he’s there, he’s present.

I’ve been in services where his presence is so manifest in joy that, no matter I mean the songs that are being sung we are just rejoicing, we are just singing, everyone is in unity, giving glory to God, and the joy overwhelms them. And then there are services where I have been in them that it feels and seems as though I’m there by myself and I you know our prayers feel like they’re hitting the ceiling, like you’re in an empty room and things are just kind of bouncing around and you don’t feel his presence. I don’t know what you’re used to. I don’t know what your normal sense of God’s presence is in your life. You may be crying out for more of his presence. You may enjoy his presence when you attend corporately at church, but I’m talking, folks, about living in his presence. Living in his presence. If we have ever I’ve had this thought. If you’ve ever had this thought, then you can join me in this.

But how many times? When reading about Jesus walking and talking with people and touching them and healing them and speaking words of not just healing but words of instruction, words of wisdom, words of correction. And in myself I’m thinking I just wish that I could walk with him, just walk and talk with him, and truthfully it’s an ignorant statement. And truthfully, it’s an ignorant statement because if I will draw near to him, he promises that he will draw near to me, that it is my choice and my actions to dwell in his presence. I may not see his body physically, but I can see when he’s at work, I can see when he’s done something. There are so many times when God has done something and I will literally say out loud to my family members, usually to my husband. I said it to my daughter recently.

But when I see God do something, I say, just like John said his disciple, it is the Lord. When they were fishing and they recognized him and said that’s Jesus, it is the Lord. I will say that all the time it is the Lord. When I recognize him, he’s right there, he’s acting on my behalf right now. He’s present, he’s protecting, he’s making a way. He’s doing the impossible, he’s opening doors. He’s present, he’s protecting, he’s making a way. He’s doing the impossible, he’s opening doors, he’s granting favor, he’s bringing a word of wisdom, showing me the path I’m supposed to go on, opening doors that I need to go through and closing the doors I don’t need to be walking through. He’s protecting, he’s shielding, he’s encouraging, he is present and I’m challenging you to make 2025 the year that you make it your goal to live in the presence of Jesus Christ. Live in God’s presence, because if I live in his presence, what I do changes, what I focus on changes, how I act or respond changes, what my first instincts are will change what my goals are. Everything changes in God’s presence. Who I can affect, how I can affect them, whether that be family or work, or friends or ministry, whether that be family or work, or friends or ministry, all things are possible. When I’m in the presence of Jesus, everything is possible. So, oh Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Well, what does that mean? Who’s going to live this journey out in your tent?

Moses took the children of Israel out into the desert and they made a journey. They sojourned on their way and the tent was God’s presence. He was the totality. God would come to the tent. There was the Ark of the Covenant, they had the table of showbread, you had the lit candles that were always lit, the menorah. You had your basin to wash in, you had your altars to burn sacrifice. All of the things were there. But God’s presence would descend and Moses would enter the tent and he would speak to God face to face God’s presence, face to face God’s presence. They lived the way that they would do. The camp is they had Moses in the center with the tent of meeting in the center, and all the different tribes were encamped amongst their tribes, but they all faced the tabernacle so that they could see when Moses would enter and watch that the cloud would descend and God was present. And they knew it. And they knew, when Moses came out, that whatever he spoke, he was the oracle, so to speak, of God for the people. He would speak whatever God spoke to him.

I want to know what God has to say. I want those instructions, I want his presence, I want him to speak face to face to me and to say that I’m going to sojourn in. Who’s going to sojourn in your tent, lord? I’m saying I want that to be me.

David’s asking the question who can do this? Who can sojourn? Who’s the person who can live his life in the presence of God. And then he doubles down on it and says who shall dwell on your holy hill? So we’ve got the mountaintops, the victories and the daily living down in the grind. Who can be when Moses would ascend to the top of the mountain to receive the instruction? Can be when Moses would ascend to the top of the mountain to receive the instruction to? He got the law from the top of the mountain, he was given the law and he was also able to see the glory of God. The goodness of God passed before him, literally, literally. The the mountain shook from the presence of God. The smoke ascended, like like the top of the mountain was on fire. The cloud would descend on it. I mean you could hear the trumpet sound through it. The people knew they heard the trump of God come from the top of the mountain, the manifest presence of God. And David says who can live in this? Who can do this? And the rest of the scripture is who can do this?

He who walks blamelessly. We talked about and I won’t go back over it all. But blameless literally means upright, complete, unscathed, intact, without fault, free of blemish, impeccable, honest, devout, having integrity, completeness. That word integrity literally means being completely sound. We have been given. We don’t have a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. We have a blameless mind. We have a complete mind that is full of integrity. The integrity of a thing tells you if it’s secure, if it’s safe, if it’s whole. All of this is what the word blameless means. So don’t get hung up on. I’m not blameless, I’m not perfect.

The word literally means that, because of Jesus, the one who can live in his presence is the one who now walks upright in God’s presence, one who now walks upright in God’s presence, the one who’s complete in Jesus, who is no longer scathed or marred by sin, but is now unscathed. They’ve been washed, they’ve been cleansed, they’ve been made new, they’ve been put on the potter’s wheel and been made anew. They can now, in God’s presence, live because they have received his righteousness, not their own rightness, not their unrighteousness, they have received Jesus’s righteousness. So they are impeccable, they are honest, devout, they live their lives for this.

When you live your life for Jesus Christ, that does not mean that you’re a pastor. To live your life for Jesus Christ, to be devout, means I live and make decisions, because this is the final purpose for me. Everything I do lines up with that goal, that aim, that purpose, and there is complete integrity in that. So he says he who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, who does no evil to his neighbor nor takes up a reproach against his friend. Folks, we have to be those who speak truth, who don’t slander, who don’t join in to the backbiting, who don’t make it their aim and intention in conversations to be the one who gets one up, who has to have the final say, and to speak sarcastically and down to those that they speak to. We have a guard over our mouth.

Again, go back and listen to the first couple episodes, but today I want us to go to verse 4. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. I wanted to give you here’s another one of those words We’ve had sojourn, we’ve had blameless, we have reproach and slander, and now we have the word vile In whose eyes a vile person is despised. I wanted to give you the Hebrew meaning of the word vile, this little couple verses here, or this one verse, but these first two sentences here are saying something very specific. They are juxtaposing ideas that I want you to get here To understand the word vile, because we are being instructed to despise a vile person. Despise a vile person. It’s probably shocking for you to hear that God actually expects you to despise something.

We tend to put Jesus in this ooey-gooey, gushy love department and only see him through eyes of liquid love pouring out always. And though he is love, he is not only love. He is righteous, he is a king, he is a judge. There are so many. He’s a creator, he is a sustainer. There are so many. He’s a creator, he is a sustainer. There are so many things that he is. He is love and everything he does comes from love.

So if I am instructed to actually despise something, that means there is something so wrong about this that is so contrary to truth, so contrary to godliness, so contrary to God’s way, that I am instructed to despise it. This is from the word yes, as a Christian, we should despise some things. Okay, and this is actually telling us there’s a certain kind of person that I am to despise. Now I know we pray for everyone. We pray for everyone. I know everyone says we should love everyone. We love them in the sense that we pray for their salvation. We pray that they are, which is love, but it is not the kind of love that buddies up to. It is not the phileo love that buddies up to someone so that we have a friendship, that we are close. Okay, I’ll explain more of this later, so hang on with me.

But vile in the Hebrew means despicable, despicable to make, despicable to contemn, and we’ll explain that word in a minute too. That’s another one of those words To think lightly of, and again, I’ll give you some more explanation of this. Contemptuous, okay, so to contemn is a form of this word, is the root of being contemptuous. Have you ever run into a contemptuous person, somebody who is always trying to bring contempt? They are contemptible. It means think to scorn. There’s another one of those words they think to scorn. Okay, let me give you a better understanding of this. We like to use a phrase. There’s an old phrase that says hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn. Okay, scorn the feeling or belief that someone or something is worthless or despicable. So it’s. There’s those same words, again despicable, worthless. This is someone who thinks this way. They think to scorn. They think despicably, they think worthlessly and they think this about people and things. They refuse to do something based on the fact that they are too proud. Okay, they’re too proud, they won’t humble themselves. They are too proud and refuse to do something because someone is too proud To be contemptuous.

I’m sure I love TV shows and movies that have to do with courtrooms. In court, I actually hate going to literal court. I actually hate going to literal court. But on TV I love watching court scenarios. I love the argument of who’s giving the better argument. Where are the facts? I like going through that deducing and the whodunit. I like to figure all that out. That’s just. I don’t know what that is in my personality, but I love that.

And so in the court I’m sure you’ve heard this or seen this when you refuse to listen to a judge’s orders, no matter who you are in the court. You can be an attorney, you can be the plaintiff or the defendant, you can be someone in the gallery. If you are in the courtroom and you refuse to listen to a judge’s orders, the judge can say you will be held in contempt. You will be held in contempt. It means you think lightly of the one who is in authority and you think lightly of their instruction and you give disregard to that order or instruction or to the honor of the person who holds the power to make that judgment. Okay, that’s a contemptuous person and we are instructed that we are to despise. A v upright person’s eyes, a vile person is despised.

Proverbs 19, 16 says and it’s using the same Hebrew word that we find here in this passage whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life. So the person who gives honor to the judge’s decree, the commandment that God has given and he may have given it to you directly, he may have given it to you through scripture but if God has said to you something he expects you to do, if he commands you, whether that be an actual commandment or God’s commands to you, whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life. It means you understand its value and it is protection to you. But it goes on to say that he who despises God’s ways, he who despises his ways, will die, will die. If you are contemptuous about God’s ways, god’s commands, that is considered vile and despicable. It is contemptible.

And the scripture teaches us, the book of wisdom tells us if you listen and obey those commands, you will retain your life. But if you don’t, if you despise it, you, because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy, gas prices are soaring, there’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once, with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do, and so many times we think we need the money, but you don’t need money. I’m telling you, the answer is you need God, and that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it, so that you get answers now.

You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to jamielucecom. You can also find this book at youdontneedmoneyyoujustneedgodcom. This book is available today youjustneedgodcom. This book is available today and it’s a pretty strong instruction for living. It is a really weighty thing to consider.

When the Bible says something can cause you life and death, you need to let the weight of that sink into your spirit and affect your daily living. When the Bible tells us that following God’s commands is life or death, what’s another thing he tells us is life or death? Life and death are in the power of your tongue. The power of your tongue. Life and death. We have to take those things very seriously. It’s as if I’m in the courtroom and the judge says if you don’t do this, you will be in contempt of court. You will be in contempt, and a person who lives in the presence of God is not a contemptuous person. They are someone who loves God’s ways, who lives to fulfill those commands. Proverbs continues to use this understanding by connecting it to discipline, because when one is willing to discipline himself or be disciplined, that is their hope, that is the hope for that person. So let’s that.

Let’s go to Proverbs 19. I want you to see this, what God is really saying and how this is connected. So 19, 16, and I’m going to read all the way through 21. Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life. He who despises his ways will die. So he’s talking about his neighbor, how he deals with his neighbor. But let’s look at verse 18 through 21. Do not set your heart on putting him to death. A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. For many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Did you see the connection here In verse 16, it says whoever keeps the command keeps his life, and if you despise God’s ways, then you die.

Then the next few verses are then commands on how to live. They are things that we do, that we discipline ourselves. We allow the command of the Lord to discipline our lives and to teach us the way that we’re to go. It says discipline your son, for there is hope. So when discipline is given, what that means is you have. If you’re being disciplined, you are not being despised and thought of as vile. There is still hope if discipline is coming. If you have not listened to the Lord, if you have disobeyed the Lord, and yet you hear his voice and you still hear, even now, his corrective word to you, a commandment that he’s reiterating to you. He’s reiterating to you there’s still hope, you are not despised, there is still hope. But when someone is past being disciplined and they refuse to listen, we know what the outcome will be Death will eventually come. It says discipline your son, for there is hope. Do not set your heart on putting him to death, meaning that if this child does not learn, if I don’t discipline him and he doesn’t learn, his end is death. That will be the determination of his life.

How valuable is discipline? How valuable is it that we listen to the commands of God? If I want to live in the presence of God, discipline is absolutely necessary. I’m told to listen to advice and accept instruction that I can gain the wisdom that I need for the future, because I can make all the plans I want. But it is God’s purpose that stands. God’s purpose, not all of my ideas, not all of my plans. It is God’s purpose that stands.

The opposite of being disciplined, then, is not the lack of discipline and not the lack of wanting discipline, but it is despising and being in contempt of it. The opposite of discipline is not being undisciplined. The opposite of discipline is contempt for discipline. It is contempt for honoring what is right, for accepting the commandment of the Lord and not finding myself in contempt of it. This kind of person is the one who can see clearly and despise the attitude and the way of a contemptuous person. God’s desire if we want to live and dwell in his presence.

You know, one of the main jobs that Moses held was how to disseminate righteous judgment amongst the people when they came up against disputes and had things that they needed to know. What does God say about this? They came to Moses and he would tell them what is the right way to handle this and what is righteous and what is unrighteous. And it became so heavy that his father-in-law had to give him instruction. So Moses had to sit in the seat of hearing instruction from his father-in-law, who told him you’re going to wear yourself out if you keep doing it this way. There’s a better way. Get those whom you can, take a part of your spirit and put it on them, and they can then be your helpers and they can help the people. You can’t do this by yourself. We were made to live in community. We aren’t meant to be lone r can’t do this by yourself. We were made to live in community. We aren’t meant to be lone rangers and do this by ourselves.

How can I ever receive instruction from someone else if I keep myself away, cut away, if I don’t make myself a part of the body and don’t humble myself so that I can receive instruction? What was the definition of vile Think to scorn someone who refuses to do something. You refuse to listen to instruction because you’re too proud. We have to be very careful of that. We’ve got to be those who are vigilant to say I want to remain someone who is teachable, who can accept the commands of God and know that it is for my good that he’s doing it. But let’s read this back to chapter 15, in whose eyes a vile person is despised.

But who honors those who fear the Lord? Who honors those who fear the Lord? What is vile? These two completely contrary actions, emotions, ways, are juxtaposed here in these two sentences Don’t do this, but do this. They’re showing us that they are opposites. But cling to honor and surround yourself with those who fear the Lord. Honor those who fear the Lord. So what is an instruction today that’ll want us to see?

There are two kinds of people. And the Lord is saying when you surround yourself with people, when it’s your choice sometimes we’re surrounded by people. It’s not our choice. I understand that when it’s your choice, who your close relationships are, those that you do life with in some form or fashion, whether that be in your home, friendships at church, your relationships in your work environment, who you choose to connect to. There are two kinds of people, and the scripture is instructing us with wisdom and saying I want you to despise this kind of person, don’t connect yourself to this kind of person, and I want you definitely to honor this other kind of person. Cling to this kind of person. So there’s the despising of a vile person, and then there’s the honoring of a God-fearing person.

Okay, and our desire should be that we make the choice to in honoring, draw near, to come close, to make our attachments to those who fear the Lord, who fear the Lord and when I say fear the Lord, I’m not saying those who walk around frightened of the Lord, though I am afraid of the Lord in the sense that he’s God Almighty. He holds my literal eternity in his hand and I know that about him, too much is given, much is required, and I know much. I know much. God has given me the bounty of knowing him, having his word to know him, what he thinks about things, what he says about things, what he expects, how he, how he wants me to conduct myself the way he wants me to do it, why he wants me to do it, that my heart is to. I have to be made in his image. I am to be a Christ bearer. I am to mirror his image and so are you, so are you so? I wanted to give you guys this.

I recently listened to a podcast. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember the name of it, I’m sorry, but they were speaking about the way. Well, they’re speaking about a lot of things. What jumped out at me were two studies and I looked them up, two studies that were done to show that proximity, so that proximity, it’s called the proximity principle in social psychology, so in the way, the psychology of what happens as we interact with society, people around us. Okay, how we do this, there is a psychology in that and this is called the proximity, so how close something is in proximity to you. We’re talking about living in the presence of God and we’re talking about choosing people who we are to honor versus those that we are to despise. Okay, and I think this will.

This was so eyeopening to me that there are, there are that these are things that can be studied and we can show you in these kinds of facts, versus you know, some people. They struggle, you give them scripture and they just are. So it’s not that they’re not in faith, but they’re looking for empirical data outside of the scripture and our final say should be what the scripture says. But I’m going to go ahead and give you some empirical data today. It’s just for those who need that extra bit. So I’ve heard of these couple of studies that were done that show how these two opposite actions that we’re talking about despising versus honor are also attitudes and that your proximity to these negative or positive attitudes matters. Okay, so I am putting in the category of vile a very negative attitude my ways and my attitudes are negative versus honoring an honoring attitude and way of how I conduct myself and how I treat people. You see the two differences.

One was done by and I hope I pronounced these people’s names right Festinger Schachter, I believe, is how you say that and either Bach or Bach. Bach B-A-C-K, who studied students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now I read this this morning, so I am reading what I got off the internet. You can read this for yourselves and look this up yourselves, but it says that these students were more likely to form friendships with other students who lived in the same dorm. Okay, so you picture a college campus. You’ve got different dorms all over the campus and that the psychology of proximity, how close they are to one another.

In this study, they found that students more often and more likely were to form friendships with those who lived in the exact same dorm that they did Even more than that, even more dialed down on that was that the students they studied were not only more likely to be friends with those in the same dorm, but they were likely to form close friendships with the people who lived just next door to them than those who literally lived only two doors down, literally lived only two doors down. That because of the close proximity, they made relationships that were closer, just because of the literal distance, the actual proximity, I believe they said within 25 feet, and the other study also talks about 25 feet, but that literally, within that little bit of distance, you are more likely to make close relationships if you are in close proximity, literally distance. So if you’re at work and someone is in the cubicle next to you versus someone who’s in the same room but in the cubicle a couple you know extra feet away, you’re more likely to make a relationship with the person who’s right next to you than you are the person who’s slightly further away, just because of proximity. Okay, I hope you’re thinking about this in life, about your relationships? The study said that this phenomenon may be explained by the mere exposure effect, which suggests that repeated exposure to a stimulus, including another person, can lead to an implicit preference for it. So, barring the interference of other variables, people who see one another regularly due to close proximity, may start to prefer one another over people who are further away, based on their frequent exposure to one another. Okay, so this is really important. If you do not make it your regular activity to get to church, to get to church to be in the presence of godly, god-fearing people regularly, all the time, seeing them all the time, getting in home groups to meet people, have friendships, actual relationship, actual conversation, regularly to see them, just the habit of seeing these people over and over again makes a major difference, right? Frequent exposure to one another. Okay, here’s the scary part Even further, it said that some research demonstrates that, even though people are more likely to form relationships with those who are physically closer to them, those relationships aren’t always positive.

Those relationships aren’t always positive. You guys, listen to that. You can be making just because of proximity. You can be making bad relationships Just because you’re with them all the time.

Think about what has gone on in our country for the last eight years. Just think about it. In our country for the last eight years, just think about it. We ended up polarizing people by political party and would only associate with those who were in the same belief system as us. So much so that became the focus. So much so that families wouldn’t get together at holidays if a person was of another political stance. They had so cemented the relationships with those who thought like-minded that they cut everyone else off. Like-minded that they cut everyone else off. So you can align with wrong thinking or people who are dangerous for you or who are hurtful and damaging to you, or you can hook yourself up with people who are encouragers, who walk by faith and not by sight, who are constantly on your side, cheering you on, and who are honest with you, so that, even if even if they have to bring some kind of correction, that they’re willing, that we are willing to hear it, to take it in and be discipled by it. The word disciple is just basically discipline. To be a disciple is one who’s disciplined, and that is what we want to be. We want to be those who can be and live in God’s presence, saying yes to his commands, honoring those and honoring him by the way we live our life according to his commands.

There was another study done. Let me pull that up real quick. Okay, this study was done with a lot of data here 58,000 working hours. Okay, people were the people who worked 58,000 working hours over 11 different companies. So there was a lot of people and a lot of hours worked, a lot of data here that they covered, and they were studying this in these companies to see if low performers affected the people around them and if high performers affected people around them. This is what the study showed them. If you sat just sat your proximity we’re talking how close you get, what you see all the time, who you witness, how they act, what they do negative or positive how does this affect you? If you sat within 25 feet of a high performer, your own performance increases by 15%. 15% increase just by sitting within 25 feet of a high performer, seeing their constant action, their mobility, the way that they move and conquer stuff, the way they do things. It’s contagious. Okay, however, this same study this is shocking. The same study showed if you sat within 25 feet of a low performer, your own performance decreases by 30%. 30%, that’s double. That shows us that the negative emotions translate into performance. And we’ll close.

They did a study on where they took two groups of people and one group of people. They had them exercise you know treadmill exercise workout really hard so that they created a lot of sweat. And then they had another group and they took them skydiving. Both groups sweat a lot, okay, okay. Then they took people who didn’t know they had. They were hooked up to brain monitors and everything and they didn’t know what they were testing for. But they came in and they had them smell. Gross, I know, but they had them smell the sweat of the different groups, everyone who smelled the skydivers. It set off in their I’m going to say the. I want to say the right word oh, what is it called in your brain? The amygdala, the amygdala in the brain where your fear is activated, the memory of fear. It would light up because the sweat contained the chemical compound, the actual physical chemical compound of fear, and it could be smelled, even though the person didn’t know they were smelling fear. The sweat contained fear. It actually produces in molecules. It actually takes physical form. It literally takes on a form that can be sensed and even though their nose didn’t understand they were smelling fear, the brain fully, the body and subconscious fully knew they smelled fear. You can literally smell fear and the people who had sweat didn’t react at all, just regular old hard work and sweat. They didn’t react at all. Only the sweat of those who had experienced fear.

Folks, our emotional state and who we surround ourselves with, whether they be someone who is vile or whether they are honoring those things translate in the physical world. You can sit within 25 feet of a high performer, someone who is active, positive, go-getter, gets it done, and it will increase your productivity by 15%. Or you can sit within 25 feet of somebody who is negative and is a poor performer, doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t like to do it, is sluggish, whatever, and it physically affects you and you decrease in your productivity by 30%. It’s why we tell people when you’re going to have to deliver correction or bad news, in a way that you’re trying to teach somebody and you want them to hear this. Productive criticism it’s good criticism. It’s it’s to do something to help them. It’s it’s critical, but it’s it’s meant to improve their life. It’s good for them. You’re trying to help them. Constructive criticism Okay. So if someone is wanting to give constructive criticism, we tell them that you want to sandwich it with something positive. First bring out a positive, maybe a couple positives, then tell the thing that you need to correct. That’s more negative in nature, that might cause that person to feel fear or feel criticized or whatever that is, and then sandwich it with more positive. Why? Because it takes twice as much positive just to counter the one negative. I think the statistic is it’s way more than that, but like 10 to 1, it’s crazy, but it’s important for us to make sure that we understand the power of that.

I am called by God, if I want to live in his presence, to despise the vile. Despise it, don’t come close to it. Because if I get in proximity to it and I’m exposed to it over and over again, the chances of me buddying up to that and now starting to accept that and come into close relationship with that greatly increases. I want to make sure that the vile is despised and kept far from me and that I honor those. I honor those let’s read the word who honors those who fear the Lord. If I know that somebody is living their life for the Lord. I want to get close to them. I want to honor them. I want to treat them the way that God wants me to treat them. I want to be there to help them. I want to encourage them. I want to stay close to them. I want that to rub off on me. I want the fear of the Lord they carry to rub off on me. Get close to people who honor God and if we do this, folks these are the kind of people who can live their life live this year 2025, in the manifest presence of God. I want that. I hope you want that too. Join me next week and we’ll finish up this last portion of this scripture.

I hope that this has been impactful and helpful to you, instructive to you. If it has been. Do me a favor. Be that one who’s encouraging and uplifting and wanting to help others the ones that we know come to that same place as well. Share this with someone you know. Share this. If this has blessed you, I’d ask that you maybe give us a like. If you’re listening to this on podcast and not on YouTube. Do me a favor, rate us, give us a review on there and help us to continue to get the message out and to touch as many lives as we can. Let’s make a difference 2025.

There are little things we can do, little micro things we can do every day, all day long. Little touches. Here and there we can encourage one another. We can be those who stand strong with one another. We can be those who stand for truth and righteousness. It’s in all the little things and decisions we make all day. Choose wisely today. Choose wisely and God will be with you and manifest himself and show himself strong on your behalf. You’ll know the difference, you’ll see the difference and you’ll feel the difference.

Let me pray for you, father. We thank you for this word. I thank you for your power, that you extend to us, the grace that you give us, the love that you have bestowed on us, the mercy that we have received. God, help us to walk according to your word. We don’t want to be those who are contemptuous against your word, your discipline and your instruction. But, god, we honor you today. We honor you with our life and with our obedience and with the way that we love one another. Help us to do that today. In Jesus’ name, we pray Amen. Thank you again for being with me today. I’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to leave me a comment, I would be happy to respond to you there in the comments section. You can find me at my website, jamielucecom J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E. All of my previous blogs that I’ve written are there. All the content that I’ve got is there. I’d love to hear from you. It was a pleasure spending some time with you today. We’ll see you again next week. Bye-bye.