It is supposed to be 85 here tomorrow. That is very untypical for Duluth, but I will use the warm weather on my day off to get some more golf in as well as add to my sunburn/tan. Our schedules at church have slowed down, which is nice to have a little more free time as well as some time to work ahead on other projects.
I took quite a break from writing my Psalm devotions, but today I got back at it again. Here is one from Psalm 101. Have a great weekend!
Psalm 101:3 “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”
Growing up in our house, my siblings and I heard Philippians 4:8 quoted a lot by our mother. Any time she saw us watching some movie or TV show she didn’t approve of, she would quote this famous verse to us. St. Paul says in this verse, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Now this is good advice that St. Paul gives us and I understand why our mother tried to drill this deep into our thick skulls. And as we see from our Psalm for today, even David agrees. Actually, since David lived long before St. Paul, I suppose you would have to say St. Paul agreed with David. David’s one line from Psalm 101 is basically the same principal as Philippians 4. I will not set my eyes on anything that is worthless, and by doing so I will think of honorable and pure things. Good life advice for all of us who want to live a life of integrity, who want to use our lives as a living sacrifice for God.
However, this is much easier said than done. In our world today, it is almost impossible to not set our eyes on worthless things. Facebook is a great way to keep up with old friends, see pictures of your cousins’ kids, and hear all about people’s good news. However, it is also absolutely full of un-honorable, un-praiseworthy things too. Between all of the political ads bashing opposite candidates, the memes making fun of people and situations that really are not a joking matter, and the anger-fueled arguments in the comment sections, Facebook quickly becomes something worthless. TV shows and movies are a great way to wind down at the end of the day and enjoy some entertainment, but almost every show or movie now includes something that is not commendable. When I watch re-runs of older TV shows, (like “Home Improvement” for example) you remember what clean, good family-moral TV shows used to be like. It is extremely hard to find any show that is entirely pure and excellent anymore. Even commercials, ads, and billboards have become more indecent and inappropriate. So in today’s world, it is very hard to not set our eyes on anything worthless, when we are completely surrounded by such things and images.
So what are we as Christians to do? We still strive to listen to the words of David and St. Paul. We still strive to keep our eyes on things of worth rather than worthless things. We still strive to think about honorable, pure, and praiseworthy things. Because when we keep our eyes on these type of things, we keep our minds on pure and excellent things. Our eyes can lead us to sin in thought probably easier than anything else. We see a racy picture or image; our mind is filled with lust. We see a meme pointing fun at a very serious issue; our mind laughs at something we should be disturbed by. We look at hateful words attacking complete strangers; our mind is filled with anger that people are so mean or judgment that people are so “ignorant” according to our standards. Our eyes lead us to sin, take sin too lightly, or become immune to the sinfulness of our world altogether as we look at these worthless things.
So, let us confess our sins of the past, admit that looking at worthless things does cause to think this way, and then strive to live in integrity by making the effort to not look at worthless things. Instead, let us look to the Word of God. Let us look to the praiseworthy things of family and friends. Let us look at all the blessings God has put in our lives each and every day. This way, when we keep our eyes on these beautiful things, we will also keep our minds on the one who gives us all honorable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. Look to Jesus, think of Jesus, and live a God-pleasing life. In Jesus name, Amen.
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