People who don’t like chocolate don’t tend to have messages on their fridge saying ‘don’t eat chocolate’. And there’s probably no need to tell a vegetarian of 25 years not to eat bacon next week. It’s sort of pointless. So when you do see this sort of reminder or encouragement, it’s reasonable to assume that this is a behaviour someone wants to deal with. Intentionally.
This is where Psalm 101 lands for me. If you haven’t already read it, stop now – open your Bible and digest it.
I woke up on Monday morning with a bunch of stuff rolling around in my head that wasn’t altogether encouraging or edifying…and then I opened up 101.
‘I will ponder the way of the blameless’
Why would the psalmist feel a need to ponder the way of the blameless without a sense of sin or self-condemnation?
‘I will walk with integrity in my own heart within my house, I will not set my eyes before anything that is worthless’.
What a great verse to have by your TV…or your computer…or as a reminder as you dress for the day ahead’.
‘Whoever slanders his neighbour secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure’.
‘No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house. No one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes’.
Whoever wrote 101 either knows specific people in the household who fail to measure up to this standard or fail to measure up themselves.
Psalms are applied orthodoxy – right thinking about God applied to life. They often reflect an understanding of God in actions, thoughts and behaviours. So I’m heartened by 101. I’m heartened because while pondering the way of the blameless and not setting my eyes on anything that is worthless is journeying towards the holiness that I’m called to into Jesus, it’s also a recognition that it’s not easy. Sometimes it’s hard. It requires intent and we need reminding. I need notes on my fridge. They may not be about chocolate or meat. They’re more important than that.
Psalm 101 is a catalyst for purity with intent. I need to read it again and again. Removing impurity and creating spacious places where integrity can be cultivated as Jesus makes His home in me is what I’m called to. And it’s what the Holy Spirit wants to grow in me. Thanks be to God.
– Simon Elliott