The Influence of the Wicked

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person." Psalm 101:3-4

Before I continue, let me say that the reasons I've not posted lately is due to several things, but chiefly because of my having to get another computer with Vista. My daughter needed one for college so I gave her my other one which I had just upgraded to 2 GB of RAM. I took the Vista machine so I could learn it as my job currently requires some technical knowledge to that effect. Needless to say, it has been a learning process and I have truly needed the Lord's patience. We should remember to call upon the Lord for everything, including when encountering technical problems. He's smarter than Microsoft and all the rest and he'll either give you the knowledge, provide someone to give you the knowledge, or help you. Remember the scripture in James 5:1-8. " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." Enough said about that. I am thinking of starting a technical blog with a Christian prospective but I'm only praying about it as currently I have enough trouble keeping up with this one.

Now to Psalm 101:3-4

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:" David didn't have TV or the other modern snares we have today. Lucky fellow. But he did have things that were wicked. Those could have been pictures of laud women, idols, and other things that could cause a snare. We have them and more today. This scripture has been used commonly for preaching against television and while I don't have a television in my home, it goes much farther. Those who claim to have Christ need to keep their eyes clear of evil as much as possible. There's enough that will come your way without going after it. The Internet can also be a snare. It would be better for you to unplug it if you can't keep off the porn sites although if you are hooked on porn, just staying off the Net won't completely cure you. You need deliverance! The books that we read, the things we fix our eyes on, and all the rest are important to God. Jesus said in Luke 11:34, "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness." While we can't always control what passes before us, we can control what we dwell on.

"I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." Watching people act out murders, adultery, and all the other sins outlined in the Bible will cause us to pick up these sins. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." 1 Cor. 15:33 The people we hang out with, the friends we pick, and the places we desire to go are all important. While Christ did eat with sinners and publicans, he did it to evangelize them but not to stay for a long period of time. The Apostle Paul said that we would have to keep some company with fornicators else we would have to go out of the world but we gravitate to whom and what is our best interests.

"A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person."

The word "forward" means "crooked" or "perverse." It relates to disobedience and opposition. It's like this: We are Christ's or we're not. You're either all his or none, he won't have half and half. Yes, at times we fight the flesh but it is our job, with his help, to keep the flesh under subjection. See 1 John 2:15-17. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." We have to live and work in this world but we must strive to be sanctified through him. "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:15-17 Those were some of the last words of Jesus said in prayer before he went to the garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane