15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15 -17 NIV.
2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2 NIV.
Has anyone ever made a poor choice of movie to watch at the cinema? Well, Colin and I did during the week! I think we were quite naive in our choice, assuming it wouldn't be that bad a choice without doing our research into it!
This movie turned out to be horrible! I thought it would be funny, and it was for about 5 minutes but then it just went into a downward spiral of offensive, rude and lewd scenarios.
When we left the cinema, Colin and I felt awful for having seen this and I prayed and opened the Bible as soon as I got home! I felt like I wanted to be cleansed of this horrible experience.
This really got me thinking about how, as Christians, we really need to be so so cautious of what we fill our minds with. I really don't watch very much TV at all now and when I do watch, quite often I feel uneasy with what I am viewing. It is all too easy to make poor choices once that box is switched on and you set off flicking through endless channels. So now I just don't put it on when I am alone!
The more I read my Bible, study God's word and pray, the less tolerant I become of what I watch on TV, the cinema and read. Why do you think that is? Is it because we become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit by immersing ourselves in His Word and company?
We are told not to love the world, to love the Father and that He remains but the world will pass away. This gives us great hope and confidence in a faithful God. Love of the world, to me, includes putting other things before God and his Word. We are all guilty of it! A favourite programme, the news, must see movies, good books; there is nothing wrong with enjoy these things is there? Although they should be wholesome and not sinful. We just need to ensure that we are placing God at the top of the list! He is more important, worthy, awesome, wonderful, comforting, and essential for my spiritual well being than anything else.
God wants our time and devotion. We owe it to him! When we look at what Jesus done for us on the cross and ponder this, then why do we find it so hard to devote our time to his Word and prayer? The world gets in the way, sneaks in, entices us and offers us our sinful hearts desires. It is quite sneaky isn't it? I certainly need to be more prayerful about resisting all the world has to offer. I shouldn't even think twice about opening my Bible and praying. We should be so grateful to God for his mercy and love for us.
Nothing should get in the way of spending time in his Word and with Him.
1 John 2:15 -17 NIV.
2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2 NIV.
Has anyone ever made a poor choice of movie to watch at the cinema? Well, Colin and I did during the week! I think we were quite naive in our choice, assuming it wouldn't be that bad a choice without doing our research into it!
This movie turned out to be horrible! I thought it would be funny, and it was for about 5 minutes but then it just went into a downward spiral of offensive, rude and lewd scenarios.
When we left the cinema, Colin and I felt awful for having seen this and I prayed and opened the Bible as soon as I got home! I felt like I wanted to be cleansed of this horrible experience.
This really got me thinking about how, as Christians, we really need to be so so cautious of what we fill our minds with. I really don't watch very much TV at all now and when I do watch, quite often I feel uneasy with what I am viewing. It is all too easy to make poor choices once that box is switched on and you set off flicking through endless channels. So now I just don't put it on when I am alone!
The more I read my Bible, study God's word and pray, the less tolerant I become of what I watch on TV, the cinema and read. Why do you think that is? Is it because we become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit by immersing ourselves in His Word and company?
We are told not to love the world, to love the Father and that He remains but the world will pass away. This gives us great hope and confidence in a faithful God. Love of the world, to me, includes putting other things before God and his Word. We are all guilty of it! A favourite programme, the news, must see movies, good books; there is nothing wrong with enjoy these things is there? Although they should be wholesome and not sinful. We just need to ensure that we are placing God at the top of the list! He is more important, worthy, awesome, wonderful, comforting, and essential for my spiritual well being than anything else.
God wants our time and devotion. We owe it to him! When we look at what Jesus done for us on the cross and ponder this, then why do we find it so hard to devote our time to his Word and prayer? The world gets in the way, sneaks in, entices us and offers us our sinful hearts desires. It is quite sneaky isn't it? I certainly need to be more prayerful about resisting all the world has to offer. I shouldn't even think twice about opening my Bible and praying. We should be so grateful to God for his mercy and love for us.
Nothing should get in the way of spending time in his Word and with Him.
Hi Collette! It's so true. The second I sit down to read my bible, 100 things come into my mind of things that I "have" to do. Total warfare!!
ReplyDeleteBut, yes, the more we spend time w/ Him, and in His Word, the less we will we need from the world to entertain us. All those other things will not be so appealing, plus we will have our own convictions. We haven't had cable in years, and now we don't get regular TV because we don't feel the need to buy a converter box. We just rent DVD's or watch the ones we have. So much junk out there!!
Hi Collette, this is a great post! We are pretty picky about what we watch, but even here lately, when watching something completely harmless, I've been wondering...is this how I should be spending my time?... I find I watch less and less. Again, great post!
ReplyDeleteThere are days we do watch a good bit of tv and others it's barely turned on. But all of my family is in agreement that the filth is totally, waaaay out of hand!! DD and DH went on a 'date' about a month ago and walked out of the theater literally 15 minutes later. Hubby complained about the filth to the manager and he allowed them to go in a different theater and watch another movie. We try very hard to check Plugged In before going to the movies.
ReplyDeleteThank God for the Holy Spirit's convicting power!!!
Blessings!
Deb
Great thoughts, my friend. I have found myself in the same place as Stephanie a lot lately ... not that what I'm watching is bad just wondering if I am using my time in a way that honors the Lord. Same struggle with the computer!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post. Thank you for the reminder. It's easy to caught up in a good book or anything thing else for that matter and leave the Bible sitting on the shelf to collect dust.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. We turned off our cable/dish 2 years ago and haven't regretted it at all. We buy DVD mostly at Lifeway and sometimes youcan find good ones at Wal-Mart - our rule is the first cuss word or inappropriate scene, it goes in the trash. We have chunked several in the garbage in the past.
ReplyDeleteCollette,
ReplyDeleteI whole heartily agree with you. The more time we are in God's place the less tolerant we become of things that are not pleasing to God.
The exact opposite is also true, that the more time spent away from God, the more acceptable we come to just sitting through things and deal with the consequences of those actions later.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
Collette,
ReplyDeleteAs always, great post! I just wanted to let you know that I also felt the same way about Flylady. I don't stay on top of things like that, and don't spend time reading Flylady. It is just one link that I knew of that has a lot of great tips there all together. And, I didn't mention, that I had checked it before I posted it, and I thought it was neat that today it says to take a date night with the kids!
Thank you for visiting and commenting! Have a great weekend!
I just hate it when the only good portions of the movie are in the previews and trailers.
ReplyDeleteWe don't go to the movies very much because we like to preview things before we let the kids see it. There have been a few times where we didn't preview and then have regretted it.
First of all, I LOVE your blog background! Beautiful post. I have felt guilty about my poor movie choices several times recently. I recently came back to my faith and have been reading the Bible again. I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future.
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS Saturday Sharefest!
This is a great post....we can get so desensitized to what is around us these days.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to check in on that sort of thing