Psalm 101

101:2 - How can you be careful to lead a blameless life? It starts with living a life of integrity in your own home. So many of us want to be a light for Christ in the world and in the Church, but we are nothing until we are full of integrity at home. I think the idea of integrity has been corrupted in some ways because we take it to mean only that we do, what we say and that we follow all of the laws. But what about how we treat other people, how we speak, how we honor God in our passions and anger and the way we spend our times. To live a blameless life through integrity means that we spend our time purposefully and not laying on a couch or always chasing the next animal or the next dollar or the next promotion. Integrity at home means that when our wife and kids see us they believe the truth of the entire Gospel because of the way we are living. It means we feel and believe what we practice. To do what you are supposed to do without feeling it and owning it shows a total lack of integrity.

101:3 - I will REFUSE to look at anything vile and vulgar.... - Isn't it interesting that David doesn't say he will struggle to overcome or try real hard or hide from... David says that he will make a firm decision to not look at ANYTHING vile or vulgar. Why is it that men struggle with pornography so much? It is because we want to! Seriously, although I know that will offend some, we struggle because we are not willing to refuse ourselves that pleasure. If you refused to eat fish I am certain no one could make you. If you refused to vote Republican or Democrat I am certain no one could force you otherwise. If you refused to listen to Acid Rock I am certain you would not allow anyone to make you. BUT, we say we cannot refuse the lure of pornography. Garbage. We don't want to, that is the problem. We are men of enough courage and strength to refuse anything in the world and yet we don't. David says that the way he leads a blameless life is to refuse to look upon anything that would defile him. I wonder when we will wake up to the truth that God has indeed empowered us through His Spirit and His word to be able to refuse to sin.

101:4 - I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.

101:6 - I will search for faithful people to be my companions... - Is part of the struggle in your own life that you have not made it a strategy to only search out godly people for your companions? I understand that we purposefully invite people into our lives who are lost so we can minister to them, but when you think of the people you truly trust and run with and whose opinion you highly value, are they godly people? We hijack our chance for blamelessness when we bring ungodly people into our inner circle of friends. We have got to learn to be the kind of men and women who faithfully search for godly friends so that we can excel at godliness.

Love, Michael