Guarding the eyegate

I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. - Psalm 101v3

We all know the wisdom on taking note of what we allow into our minds. We can't always help what gets in. Sometimes we are going along walking down the road, watching the television, working online, or whatever and something pops up. It is there, it is in your mind, and there is nothing we can do about it. By God's grace we can lay those things aside and move on.

But let's be honest, shall we. I don't think that we always avoid the opportunities. There are times when we are tempted to put ourselves in situations where we know that we are going input things into our lives that don't belong there.

The psalmist knew of this draw. There was all kinds of wickedness going on around him. He wrote about walking uprightly, doing the right thing starting at home, and setting no wicked thing before his eyes. He strove to walk uprightly and part of that was watched what he, well, watched.

We live in a day full of visual images. Everywhere we turn there are thing that we see that tempt us to be drawn away. We don't need to add to those images of our own volition. The psalmist's advice to 'set no wicked thing before our eyes' is probably more valuable and needed today than it has ever been.