Psalm 101 gives us some guidance as to what or who we should allow to have influence in our lives. With verses like (v3) “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away” and (v7) “He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position over me.” These are pretty straightforward principles to read and apply.
What you choose as an influence in your life will affect you. It can govern how you view the world and interact with it. Here at Capernwray Harbour, a principle that we share with the students about the content they consume on their personal time (music, movies, etc…) is that it will impact how they think and interact with others. As Ben Ellershaw would put it “garbage in, garbage out.” This Psalm not only encourages us to weed out bad influences, but to instead set our focus on people and things that point us back to God. (v6) “My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.” We often can’t control all of the potential influences that are thrown our way, we live in a digital age where you can’t open your phone without being bombarded with opinions and ideas, good and bad. What we can control is who or what we turn to in response. We can choose to believe the Truth that is so clearly shown to us in scripture, or we can believe many of the lies that infest our culture.
Psalm 101 draws a very clear line between positive and negative influences and where both lead. The path of the wicked leads to destruction, being cut off from the Lord. The path of integrity leads to community with the Lord and those who are desiring to be like Him. Which one will you choose?
By: Dane Giesbrecht
