One positive thing that came out of our quarantine was that we cleaned the house from top to bottom. Not one cupboard, not one drawer, not one crevice escaped our attention.

But Psalm 101 speaks of another type of spring cleaning. It speaks of cleaning up our lives, making the right decisions and making those long-neglected choices in our homes. It is a matter of looking for cobwebs and dust that has infiltrated our hearts. Are you willing to do that? The psalmist was, for in just 8 verses he cries out “I will” 11 times.

I want to urge fathers to make three decisions that will clean up their homes. Decisions #1 – I will live a life of praise in my home v.1. The psalmist says, “I will sing of your love.” It is covenant love. It is an unconditional, giving love. I will sing of your justice. Too often we only hear of God’s injustice and lately we have been hearing a lot about how we live in an unjust society. The psalmist says I will sing of your fairness and your justice and your love.

It is a deliberate commitment on the part of the psalmist — I will! He is simply saying, I will be known for singing praises. Not grumbling, not complaining, but praising. Whether you are a quiet spirit and seem to retain your joy in your heart or your charisma flows over unto others, make this resolve, I will sing praises. I will live a life of praise.

Praise is something that comes from a willing heart. It is a choice. It is someone who does not need praise to be stuffed into their heart by a positive experience. Even in the middle of a pandemic, even in the middle of social unrest, you can begin to sing praise.

It is your choice, it is your decision. How many of us fathers are known in our home as grumblers or complainers or are you known by your children as someone who knows how to praise God in any circumstance? Praise him in front of your children for a child learns who and what God is like by whom their parents praise and how they sing. Howard and Jean Hendricks, two Christian authors who raised four children were asked, “What would you do different if you could start over again? They made five suggestions: They would listen more; they would demonstrate love for their spouse more; they would spend more quality time with their children, they would praise their children more; and they would have rejoiced more in the Lord and his goodness.

It is God’s love that gave us breathe today. It is God’s love that gave us this day to live. It is his justice that allows saved sinners to express their love for him. When my son went to elementary school, I drove him every morning. It wasn’t the happiest of times for him. He would start reciting all the things he didn’t like about school and I would break out into this melody, “This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made.” Let us rejoice, let us rejoice and be glad therein. Finally, he would say, OK Dad, enough, I get the point. Just stop singing. I believe God will look back on those times with pleasure when I praised his name. I will live a life of praise. Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say, rejoice. Dad, when was the last time you praised God in front of your family? When was the last time you led your family in praise? One writer said, “There is never a day so dreary, there is never a night so long, but the soul that is trusting Jesus, will somewhere find a song.” I will live a life of praise.

Decision #2 – I will live a life of purpose in my home v.2a. I will be careful the psalmist says. It means to give study to. I am going to study this and see which is best for me. How does one raise a child in the world we live in? How can we hope that with the all the world throws at our children they will develop any spirituality?

The psalmist says I will be careful to lead a blameless life. Dr. Julius Irving, also known to sports fans as Dr. J. often refused to share his public testimony because he stated, “I am not always blameless.” But once he spoke about his strategy or purpose in life. He said, “Only a fool would go to a basketball game with no strategy on how to play the game. And only a fool would go on with life without a strategy on how to glorify God.” To give heed or to be careful means I will study the blameless way and make it part of my concentration. The ink spots use to sing, “You only hurt the one you love.” That is simply the world’s excuse for bad behavior.

In graduate school, I had a professor who let it be known in class that he did not care for preachers. He was the son of a preacher and seem to lavish in making fun of preachers. One day I had to drop some papers he had me grade for his class at his home. When I arrived there was this huge sign that said, “Beware of killer dog.” When the door opened this little fluffy dog ran over and began chewing at my shoelaces. I looked up and there my professor stood with a big smile on his face. I asked him if he had any other dogs and replied no, why? I looked at the sign and he smiled and said that is to remind people to be on guard when they approach my home without an invitation.

I think we need to hang a sign on our hearts as a warning and a reminder to give heed. Why do we do what we do? Why do we go where we go?

v.2b says when will you come to me? The psalmist is asking God, when will he come for me? Why does he ask that? Because the blameless way is motivated by knowing that someday I will stand before God. I will live a life of purpose and my purpose will be a blameless way. I will live a life of praise. I know I am going to heaven and stand before God therefore I will live a blameless life.

Decision #3 – I will live a life of purity in my home v.2c. First come’s the heart. Watch over your hearts the proverbs say for out of it come’s the issues of life. What you get into your heart will come out. If you clean up your heart you can clean up your home. I will conduct the affairs of my home with a blameless heart, the psalmist says. I will be someone who tries his best to practice what he preaches or teaches what he believes. Then he adds in v.4, “The perverse of heart shall be far from me. I will have nothing to do with what is evil”. He is not saying he will stay away from everyone so he doesn’t get tainted. He is not saying God will protect him in some supernatural way. He is saying choose to not let your heart become perverse or distorted or sinful. V.3 says he will also live with purity not only in his heart but in his home. Houses are getting harder to guard, are they not?

Some insurance companies will not insure your home unless you have a double bolt on all your doors and a peephole to see who is trying to get in. The Psalmist is saying be careful who is trying to get into your home and what is already in it. I thought this week I would give everyone a video recorder to record all they say and do in their homes. Next week we will collect them and listen in on each other’s home. Sounds silly yes, but in a sense all our homes are bugged and we will have to give an account. Children learn from what we say, do they not? Many years ago I was in traffic following a lady who was driving really slow and all of a sudden my son yelled, hey idiot, get out of the way.

I wonder where he heard that? So how can someone guard the purity of their home? Let’s admit, you can’t turn on the television, get on Facebook or even drive around without evil poking out at you. How can I set no worthless thing before my eyes? Remember that what you watch will determine what you think about and what you think about the most can become what you are. What should I watch? Phil. 4:8 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is of good repute, if it is worthy of praise let your mind dwell on these things.

I am not saying that I should publish a TV guide for you. I am just saying each of us have to guard purity in the home. The average child under the age of 5 watches some type of electronic screen 23.5 hours per week. That means by the time they graduate they will have consumed about 15,000 hours of what the world offers. To offset that if the child goes to S.S. and church he will receive 4,000 hours of instruction. The average adult spends about 44 hours per week on TV and social media. I have come to realize the evils of social media are twofold. What it authorizes and what it takes people away from. Ever go out to dinner and see a family at a table and the entire family are on their phones. There was a study done in Connecticut. The results are as follows: Susie, once a shy girl who barely played with others now joins in at every opportunity. Young Mark stopped playing “let’s blow things up” and has not been in a fight for two weeks and has quit teasing kids. Mary, who earned Ds and Fs came home with her first B. What changed those behaviors? The experiment was that they were not allowed to watch TV or be on any social media for 3 weeks. A California research study of 500,000 teens showed that there was a high correlation between high grades and minimal social media and low grades with high social media.

I taught a behavior science class once and had my students watch 3 hours of prime TV and to record how often there was sex, violence or drugs represented in those three hours. The average was 176 times per a 3 hour time span. I will set no evil thing before my eye. I will also pick the right heroes 3b-4. One translation of the verse says those who fall away will not get a grip on me. Too often the models our children choose get a grip on them and lead them away. I will also stay away from a haughty heart v.5. Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret I will put to silence. The contemporary translation is do not let slander at your dinner table. If children live in a home where spiritual leaders are put down, neighbors mocked, friends forsaken, what have we taught them? Slander a friend then shake their hand on Sunday. Get it out of my life, the psalmist says. v.6 says keep your eyes on those who are faithful. I must say that I am married to a lady that sets the example about not talking about other people. When my son was in school we were very active. I knew his friends, his teachers, and the school climate. I will tell you why I was so hypervigilent?

Years ago I was involved with a study of a small school and one of the variables was sexual activity. We found that in that small school 50% of high school teens were already sexually active and that girls as young as 7th grade carried prophylactics just in case. It is not all their fault. That started a long time ago. In the 70s people were asked to rate what TV show was the greatest teacher of moral truth. Do you want to know who won? Dallas and Three’s Company. The psalmist says he who practices deceit shall not dwell in my home. He who speaks falsehood will be made silent. Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Come with me to the Greek games. A man pulls an arrow out of his quiver and places it on the bow. The target is way out there and it is very small. With nerves of steel and strength he shoots but misses by a foot. The score keeper yells, “harmartano,” you missed the mark.

A second man shoots and misses the center by just an inch. Harmartano. Whether by an inch or a foot, you missed the mark. Romans says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have harmartano. But a final man steps up, pulls the bow straight and shoots – perfect bull’s eye. Someone from the crowd yells who did that and the man turns and says I am the Son of God. Now it is my turn to shoot and Jesus looks at me and says may I shoot for you and he does. As many as receive him to them he gives the right to become children of God. Then they can hit the mark because they trust him. It is only then that you can live a life of praise. It is only then you can live a life of purpose. It is only then that you can live a life of purity.

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The Rev. Dr. James Barnes is currently the pastor of White Memorial Church in Milroy.

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