We were getting our boys ready for school one morning and I went outside to grab something. When I walked back I noticed something when I stepped in the door. I looked back and there was dog poop on the threshold of the door and on the porch. Apparently I had picked it up when I went outside.
You know what I did? I stopped everything that I was doing to clean this up. I swapped to clean shoes and cleaned the threshold and the porch. I wasn’t sure if I had tracked any in the house so I mopped the floor. I then cleaned my shoes outside with a water hose, then once they looked clean I put them in the washing machine. Why did I go to such efforts? Because I don’t want to walk around with filth on me nor do I want to track it in my house.
This makes sense to everyone reading this. Yet do we track things into our homes that have no business in our homes?
I knew a lady once that didn’t allow anyone to wear shoes that they had worn outside in her home. You wore socks or house shoes, but you didn’t walk outside in a pair of shoes and back in her house. Now this sounds extreme, but someone made an observation about her carpet. They said that it was 20 years old and looked brand new. How many of us can say that about our carpets?
Have you ever pulled a carpet out of a house? You would be surprised at what is hidden underneath. I helped a man pull carpet out of a rent house and the amount of dirt that we swept up from under the carpet.
Now, I’m not advocating for you to stop letting people wear shoes in your house. What I’m trying to get you to pay attention to is what you might track in your house. Sometimes this may be something you encounter in the world. Sometimes it’s a little closer to home. Sometimes it is what we allow through what we watch and listen to. To understand this I want to look at Psalm 101. Let’s look at it from the view of what we watch or listen to in our homes.
Psalm 101: 1-8 (KJV)
1 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.
5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.
When you read through this Psalm, applying it to what we watch and listen to, it gives us some pretty clear instructions about what we allow into our homes.
David said, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart (Psalm 101:2 KJV). Notice that he specifically mentioned his house. It wasn’t enough to live right where everyone could see him. David was concerned about how he lived when he was at home.
Then he said, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes (Psalm 101:3 KJV). There are some things we encounter that we have no control over. I didn’t intentionally step in dog poop that morning. But there is a difference between accidentally stepping in something and intentionally tracking it through the house.
We cannot control everything we encounter in this world, but we can control a lot of what we bring home with us.
Then David says something that really fits this illustration: it shall not cleave to me (Psalm 101:3 KJV).
Some things cling to us.
That’s what happened to my shoe. I picked something up outside without even realizing it, and it followed me all the way to my front door.
We need to be careful that we aren’t doing the same thing spiritually. Something we watch, something we listen to, a joke we continually laugh at, language we repeatedly hear, or attitudes we constantly expose ourselves to can begin to cling to us.
David didn’t only say what he wouldn’t look at. He also said, Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land (Psalm 101:6 KJV). In other words, he was intentional about what he put before his eyes.
Then he said, He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight (Psalm 101:7 KJV).
As the famous quote goes, “Television: The device that brings into your living room characters you would never allow in your living room.”
But it isn’t just the characters. It’s their actions. It’s their language. It’s their attitudes. It’s what they make us laugh at. It’s what they can slowly make seem normal.
There are some things we recognize as filth immediately. There are other things that are more like the dirt underneath that carpet. They come in a little at a time. We don’t notice them accumulating. Then one day the carpet gets pulled back and we’re surprised by what has collected underneath.
I’m not telling you to throw your television away. I’m not telling you that you can’t watch a movie or enjoy entertainment. I’m simply saying what David said in Psalm 101: pay attention to what you put before your eyes, what you allow to cling to you, and what you allow to dwell in your house.
Check your shoes.
Because what we track in a little at a time can become a pile before we ever realize it’s there.
2 Corinthians 7:1 (KJV)
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Leave a Reply