I will sing of Your love and justice, LORD. I will praise You with songs.
I will be careful to live a blameless life-when will You come to help me? I wil lead a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them.
I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.
I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me.
I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.
My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked and free the city of the LORD from their grip.
I planned to just use portions of Psalm 101, but I couldn’t decide what to cut, so I just decided to use it all. This is all from the New Living Translation.
I am so impressed with this passage of Scripture. This psalm shows that this person knows what he stands for and he’s willing to take a stand for it. And verse five says, “I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.” Basically this psalm is giving a pattern for living.
I recall hearing Maya Angelou tell of when she had asked a person to please leave her home because they were using language she would not tolerate in her home. That lady has standards, and she is willing to uphold them.
How do we respond to an off-color joke? Do we just giggle with embarrassment, or do we let the person know that is not acceptable in our home?
We need to pray that God will give us the courage to maintain our standards even when it might seem to be awkward to do so. I see a trend today that we are so concerned about offending the offender that we are becoming a people with no standards at all. As Christians we should be a group with standards and unbelievers need to know there are certain lines that WILL NOT be crossed.
MARILYN WILLETT HEAVILIN
Is a wife and mother; author & International conference speaker
Author of Roses In December,
December’s Song
Becoming A Woman of Honor,
Profound Common Sense
When Your Dreams Die,
Grief Is A Family Affair,
I’m Listening, Lord
Victory Call 
Dear Marilyn,
Bravo! You said it like it should be said ! Permitting the offender to get away with offending believers is unacceptable and yes! Too many times we sheepishly say a “little something” to ward off that inappropriate joke or story. I have another “believer’s pet peeve”, and that is hearing somebody say “Oh my G-d!” or taking the name of His Son in vain….it goes through my heart like a knife.
We Jews (I am a Messianic Believer) have a word – it is “chutzpah” (pronounced hutzpa). It means “to have guts” or to be very bold. I have literally prayed to have my bold “chutzpah” in telling folks to maintain a standard in my home and/or in my presence. It’s not easy sometimes, and I do think we must act with a “bold gentleness”, as a “holier than thou” believer can do more harm than good when it comes to confronting an offender. However, confront we must….G-d commands that we hold His desires over man’s.\
Thank you, once again, for presenting a very important topic and discussing it so passionately.
Stephanie Dickinson, B.S.Min., CLC.
Lancaster PA