August 10

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word. — Ps 119:37 BSB

We must constantly turn toward the light if we want to keep our lives true and in accordance with God’s commandments. There are certain flowers that always turn to face the sun. I once saw a potted rosebush in a sickroom. It sat by the window, and every time the rose was turned toward the darkness of the room, it twisted itself back toward the light. The flower refused to look into the darkness.

That rose taught me a lesson—never allow yourself to look toward evil. We should turn away from it immediately. Not even for a moment should we let our eyes linger on something sinful. To give in to even a single act of sin is to defile the soul. One of the Bible’s central messages is to “turn from the wrong, the base, the crude, the unworthy—to the right, the pure, the noble, the godlike.” We shouldn’t allow even an unholy thought to remain in our minds for a moment. Instead, we should immediately turn our faces fully toward Christ, the Holy One.

“I will set before my eyes no vile thing!” (Psalm 101:3)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things!” (Philippians 4:8)

We must also train ourselves to turn away from discouragements. There’s always a bright side, and we should focus on finding it. Discouragement is dangerous; it weakens us and harms our lives.