Ahem ... bad company ruins good people!

Listen here to>>>  Psalm 101

Yesterday I was meditating on Psalm 101.  It is about evil and how to deal with it.

That's a pretty heavy topic, but since horrible things are in the news every day now, it is definitely timely.

The Psalmist makes his attitude very clear:

“The deeds of faithless men I hate;

They will not cling to me.

Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;

I will have nothing to do with evil.”   [Ps 101: 3b, 4]

Why?

I think that the whole poem reveals this reason:

Because the Lord is just 

as well as loving,

I will choose my companions with care.

 So, here is what to avoid and what to embrace when it comes to friends and associates.

What to avoid	What to embrace
Vile (vs. 8)	Sing praise (vs. 1)
Faithless (3)	Love and justice (1)
Perverse (4)	Blameless life (2)
Evil (4)	Blameless heart (2)
Slander (5)	Faithful (6)
Haughty (5)	Blameless walk (6)
Proud (5)
Deceit (7)
Speaks falsely (7)
Wicked (8)
Evil doer (8)

This psalm teaches us how to deal with evil actions and treat evil people.  We need to avoid where we can, reject where we must, and keep our own hearts and actions pure in the process.  Here's a further list of tips:

At home – make sure what I do is pure

At home – make sure what I see is pure

Hate – actions of the faithless

Shake off – actions of the faithless

Keep far away from  -- men of perverse heart (who think evil is good)

Have no dealings – with evil

Put to silence – person who slanders neighbor

Don’t put up with – person with haughty eyes and proud heart

Don’t live with – person who practices deceit

Don’t hang around – person who lies

Silence at every chance – the wicked

Reject and cast out   – every evil doer

Why do we need to have these boundaries?  Because if we don't exclude from our inner circle those who are bent on doing wrong, we will be victimized by them, and ultimately become like them.

"Bad company corrupts good morals."   1Cor. 15:33

 

About Freedom -- An Easter Meditation

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

 

Galatians is truly a wonderful book.  It is about freedom.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  This is such good news we can hardly believe it.  In fact, most of the time people don’t believe it.  If, when they hear this good news and come to Christ they feel a rush of happiness at this freedom, they soon replace it with some level of bondage again. 

Even though we long for freedom with our whole being, we human beings find it hard to STAY free!  Why is that? 

For some, it’s because we don’t think we deserve it.  DUH!!  Isn’t that the whole point of the gospel!  We didn’t deserve it and God loved us and sent his Son who paid the price of our undeserving selves.  Last night I heard a story that comes from Leviticus.  The Israelites were told to bring in two pigeons as offerings.  The one was killed and they put its blood on the other one and set it free.  Bingo!  Jesus and I come before God – Jesus was killed and by my acceptance of that God puts his blood “on” me – I fly free.

Good news!

There are other psychological reasons that we don’t STAY free.  One is pride.  Accepting God’s offer of a free exchange doesn’t leave me any room to brag.  I am standing there psychologically naked before God.  That is uncomfortable – since the time of Adam who went and found some old leaves to cover up his nakedness!  I feel I must get rid of my sense of uncomfortableness by doing something – even leaves will do.  But that is a slippery slope.  First leaves, then skins.  Then Eve looks at the two of them and says, “We can do better than this.  These skins have no style!”  And she creates a whole industry based on looking good.

Voila! --

Looking good to each other and to ourselves begins to take over and cover up the reality that, yes, we are naked before God but we don’t have to be ashamed anymore because God himself has covered us, through Christ, and we are really, truly, forever, freely OK.

When will we ever learn!   

These intrusions on our freedom are so sneaky.  There is the religious cover-up, also.  We accept Christ and are happy.  We come to church to be with other people who know Christ (because our old friends don't understand us anymore), but after a while we notice these people aren’t all happy.  They have problems, and we still have problems, and someone says, “Come over here – I have found a fix for this problem.”  And someone else says, Going to church often will help the problems.  And then it’s, “Serving the poor will help us feel better and fix the problems.”  Or “Serving the poor in Africa will really put us in good stead and make us happy.”

And, voila! --

Next thing you know we are dragged down the same path of thinking – that our own actions will get us right with God and people.

Help!

Although there are many paths to losing our freedom in Christ,  

there is always the same simple way out. 

Come to the cross. 

Kneel there. 

Confess that you can’t do it. 

Receive God’s forgiveness and ask for his help. 

Open your heart to His Spirit doing it through you.

Get up and go with God.

Breathe.

Isn’t freedom wonderful.