Psalm 101:3: “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; / I hate the work of those who fall away; / It shall not cling to me.”

This psalm reveals King David’s devotion to integrity, and his strategy for behaving wisely and acting in a mature way. He understood that if he was careful about what he allowed to enter his mind (“set before my eyes”), then he could more easily trust that what came out of his mind would also be good. One new version translates this as: “I will not look at anything wicked” (NCV). This causes us to examine just what we have been privately putting before our eyes. David warned us that we should not give unholy things or people space to gain a foothold in our lives.

Neil Postman of NYU was quoted in US News And World Report as saying:

What television does is to bring the whole culture out of the closet, because programs need a constant supply of novel information. In its quest for new and sensational ventures to hold its audience, TV must tap every existing taboo in the culture: homosexuality, incest, divorce, promiscuity, corruption, adultery, and terrible displays of violence and sadism.

Television mogul Ted Turner said to a group of broadcasters from around the world, “Your delegates to the United Nations are not as important as the people in this room [broadcasters]. We are the ones that determine what the people’s attitudes are. It’s in our hands.” Sadly this is only a slight overstatement of the facts. Unless we guard our eyes and compare everything we see and hear against the Word of God, we will place our attitudes in the hands of the wrong kingdom.

“LORD, we desire to put before our eyes only those things that will cause us to grow in You this day.”