Create in me a Clean Heart
Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation... “
I have one of those scripture verse card holders on my desk (I took a photo of it so you can see what it looks like). Psalm 51:10-12 was one of the verses last week. It got me to thinking what it really means to have a “clean” heart. The more I thought about it, I realized it is a perfect partner to Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” In other words, I would say that having a clean heart would mean living a clean life not just in reality, but in your mind as well. I was going to then include the bible verse that says something like, “Whatsoever a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” but I cannot find it. However, that also fits with this run-on theme.
While living in a secular world, we are constantly bombarded with sexual & violent images. The easiest way to avoid this is to read a Christian review of a movie before seeing it and avoid the movies you know are going to be vulgar and/or violent. Another way simply involves pushing the button on your remote control to change the TV channel. I am not just preaching to the choir, I am guilty of violating Philippians 4:8. One of my favorite shows is “24.” Every episode has a disclaimer that viewer discretion is advised. I tend to change the channel when the scenes get too violent, but I then turn it back again b/c the stories are so compelling. That doesn’t make much sense, does it? Also I had a bad habit of when I went home for lunch of watching soap operas. Even if I turn away during a sex scene, I am still watching a show that promotes sex outside of marriage, and lots of it.
So for me, I went cold turkey on the soap opera issue about 3-4 weeks ago. It’s still hard to pick a good show w/o violence, especially since I am drawn to action/adventure stories. Perhaps I just need to read/write more.
Anyway, this long, drawn out column is just to remind me and any other readers, that God wants us to have a clean heart by dwelling on the pure & lovely things of this world. Only then can the rest of the verse in Psalm 51 come true, that the joy of salvation will be restored.
I have one of those scripture verse card holders on my desk (I took a photo of it so you can see what it looks like). Psalm 51:10-12 was one of the verses last week. It got me to thinking what it really means to have a “clean” heart. The more I thought about it, I realized it is a perfect partner to Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” In other words, I would say that having a clean heart would mean living a clean life not just in reality, but in your mind as well. I was going to then include the bible verse that says something like, “Whatsoever a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” but I cannot find it. However, that also fits with this run-on theme.
While living in a secular world, we are constantly bombarded with sexual & violent images. The easiest way to avoid this is to read a Christian review of a movie before seeing it and avoid the movies you know are going to be vulgar and/or violent. Another way simply involves pushing the button on your remote control to change the TV channel. I am not just preaching to the choir, I am guilty of violating Philippians 4:8. One of my favorite shows is “24.” Every episode has a disclaimer that viewer discretion is advised. I tend to change the channel when the scenes get too violent, but I then turn it back again b/c the stories are so compelling. That doesn’t make much sense, does it? Also I had a bad habit of when I went home for lunch of watching soap operas. Even if I turn away during a sex scene, I am still watching a show that promotes sex outside of marriage, and lots of it.
So for me, I went cold turkey on the soap opera issue about 3-4 weeks ago. It’s still hard to pick a good show w/o violence, especially since I am drawn to action/adventure stories. Perhaps I just need to read/write more.
Anyway, this long, drawn out column is just to remind me and any other readers, that God wants us to have a clean heart by dwelling on the pure & lovely things of this world. Only then can the rest of the verse in Psalm 51 come true, that the joy of salvation will be restored.
posted by Julie @ 2:19 PM
1 Comments:
That is a very good point. I am really picky about what I will watch... to the point of being a bit prudish! I figure if I would not let the children see it I need to examine whether or not I should be watching it!
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