“Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, eliminating all evildoers from the Lord’s city.” King David, Psalm 101:8, HCSB

Recently, we just wanted some mindless entertainment, so my husband and I were watching a highly-recommended On Demand series. Being behind three seasons, we were binge-watching and thoroughly enjoying the storyline of historical fiction, gorgeous scenery, identifying with the characters, loving the heroes, hating the antagonists and enemies.

It was the perfect weekend entertainment. Until the sex scenes. With no warning, during the time it took to gasp and grab the remote, we were accosted by images we wished we could un-see. Thanks to Randy’s Ninja Remote Skills, the picture went black in two to three seconds, but the evil had jumped into our living room before we knew what was happening. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Psalm 101 is a Manifesto of the Ethical Standards of King David:

• For himself, David is committed to integrity and purity.
• For his administration, he expects humility and faithfulness.
• His counselors are required to speak truth, responding in complete honesty.

At first glance, here’s the question that arises: David is the king, so his responsibilities filter through an entire kingdom. Where is the relevance for you and me, the regular people?

You and I do not rule kingdoms as David did, but each of us does rule over ourselves and we each have influence over others in some form or fashion. Whether we live alone or we host an army, we each have a “kingdom” over which we rule.

What rules of life have you formulated for your “kingdom”? What intentional systems have you set up for living your best life?

David uses some strong language here. Words like every, destroy, wicked, and eliminate speak with a sense of finality. These are fightin’ words! There’s nothing left on the back end of these words. As ruler of the kingdom, David realizes a strong sense of responsibility for maintaining calmness, order, and peace in the land.

Intentionally, every morning, David would take action on the front end to prevent disaster and destruction on the back end.

You and I can learn a valuable lesson from this wisdom of King David: Every Morning, Clean Your Corners.

Some of the doors in our houses remain open for easy access. We need to take a look in the corners behind those doors and identify any dust, fuzz or dirt that’s begun to build up. Next, we need to pick up the proper tool to get rid of it. Finally, we have to use the tool and completely remove the dirt. To use David’s words, “Every morning, I will destroy…eliminate…”

Do you hear the resolve? Do you see the intentionality? David the King makes a conscious choice and takes direct action to “keep his house clean”. David ruled the city of the Lord, and here’s the thing for you and me: because God himself lives within us, our own hearts, as well as our spheres of influence, can be compared to the city of the Lord. Wherever we go, we take the Lord.

Our responsibility is no less important than King David’s. We are the kings of our kingdoms, and we get to choose how we rule.

Before our humanity rushes in, let’s rein in this line of thinking. We are talking on spiritual terms here. In His teachings about relationship with God and with others, Jesus regularly addresses our personal kingdoms. As Christ-followers, it is our goal to default to The Mind of Christ: Jesus’ model is total submission to the purpose of God, every day, in every way (Philippians 2:5-11).

Defaulting to The Mind of Christ, we will never fall into that destructive and prideful “I-am-the-king-of-my-castle” mindset. Defaulting to The Mind of Christ keeps us in line with life-giving rules and practical policies, providing love and the very best life for ourselves and everyone else living within our rule.

3 Steps for Cleaning Corners Every Day:

1. ASSESS my thinking patterns. Are my thoughts lining up with The Mind of Christ, as in Philippians 2:5-11? Here’s a good litmus test: James 3:13-18. James contrasts between the Wisdom of the World and the Wisdom From Above. It works really well to make 2 lists and compare our line of thinking to each. A timely comparison will quickly determine the root of our thought lives.
2. ANNIHILATE what does not match The Mind of Christ. If we are not thinking like Jesus, we need to immediately, totally and completely destroy that thought process, so there is no “build-up” of dust or dirt. We need to take harsh action against everything that stands against truth. After we have destroyed these thoughts, it is imperative we replace them with Wisdom from Above that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, unwavering, without hypocrisy, full of mercy and good fruit (James 3:17). Does that describe the kingdom you want to create, the kind of kingdom where you want to reside?
3. ACT upon what I know to be true. David understood the value of truth. Truth Trumps Everything. The Bible is full of promises that are true, promises we can live upon in our Everydays. Here’s what we know to be true about God: He works in you and me “for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13; 1 John 2:24-27) God’s intention toward us is always love–every time. This is Truth. We can take action in God’s love–every time.

So, every morning, I challenge you to join me in the 3 A’s for Cleaning. Carefully inspect what is behind the interior doors of your heart. Keep short accounts with what needs to be cleaned, so there is ample space in our Everydays for living in what we know to be true.

In doing so, we will create total freedom for our entire kingdoms–a safe place for ourselves and everyone we love!

Bonus: If you’d like to add a worship element to these thoughts this video, click here for the King of My Heart by Bethel Music.