The believer should resolve to walk by the rules of Christian prudence and in the ways of Christian piety,
whether he be abroad in public stations, or before his own family.
Psalm 1
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.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 101 – My Righteous Purpose
This psalm, as the title indicates, was composed by David, probably at the commencement of his reign. It contains a number of resolutions upon which he was prepared to act. First, he made up his mind that he would give heed to a perfect way, and would walk in his house in the integrity of his heart, Psalm 101:2. Next, he made up his mind to choose his friends with rigorous care, that froward hearts and evil persons should depart from him; that he would not enter into close relations with those that slandered their neighbors, or that gave evidence by their high looks of proud hearts. Deceit and falsehood were alike to be banished from his palace; while faithful souls, who also walked in “a perfect way,” should minister to him. Finally, he made up his mind to carry out his rule in the public state, that the wicked might be put out of the way and the righteous exalted.
It was an excellent program, and happy would he have been if, throughout his life, he had rigorously adhered to it. It is not possible for us to exercise David’s absolute power in the selection of our environment. It is often necessary for us to work in places of business among those whom we would not choose as associates. But we can, at least, forbear making any of these our intimates, or the friends with whom we spend our leisure and recreational hours, I Corinthians 5:9-11. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 101:2—I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
This is the hardest place to walk in perfectly. It seems easier to walk perfectly among strangers than in one’s own house. But you may rest assured that a man is really no better than he is to his own. You must not gauge your worth by what the outside world thinks and says, but by the estimate of those that see you in the ordinary intercourse of the home.
To be perfectly courteous to those whom you are meeting at every meal; to hold yourself under perfect control when worried by tiny insidious jars, and stung by almost invisible gnats; to maintain always the perfect girding of the loins; to have the head always anointed and the face always washed; to realize God’s ideal, love’s ideal, and your own. Ah, me! this requires the utmost grace that God can give. To die once is easy; to live always with an undivided heart, this is hard.
Understand that in the home-life God is educating and training you for the greatest victories. There you are learning the deepest lessons in sanctification. You need not run to conventions, sermons, and holiness meetings; if you would resolve to walk in your house with a perfect heart, you would discover how far from perfect you are, and how you are the least of his saints. Seek the perfect heart in your home-life; for then God will come unto you, and dwell beneath your roof, and the story of Bethany would be reduplicated for your household and yourself.
“Perhaps ‘a single heart’ is never known,
Save in the yielded life that lives for God alone;
And that is therefore doubted as a dream
By those who know not the tremendous power
Of all-constraining love.” —Our Daily Homily