Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Choosing Holiness

"The world is not full of lost people because the devil is so strong. The world is full of lost people because the church is so weak. My friend, the church is weak because the people who profess to know Christ as Lord are not serious about serving His cause. We would rather eat the royal food than take a stand that tells the world, 'We refuse to defile our bodies with the extravagant diet you have to offer.'" I read this this afternoon in a book I am reading about spiritual warfare, and it challenged me. It made me think about what the choices I make tell the world about the God I serve. 1 Peter 1:15 says, "But as He who called you is Holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written 'be holy, for I am holy.'" In my search for the meaning of the word "holy" I found that it means separated or set apart. As Christians, God has set us apart from the world and from sin to fulfill His purposes.

One of the areas that I have felt God calling me to make "holy" choices is in the area of entertainment, specifically books, tv shows, and movies. A couple years ago, as I was watching a popular tv show, I began to feel very convicted about the fact that I was watching a show full of sin. I had been watching shows like this and become desensitized to the fact that I was choosing to fill my mind with sinful images ( sex, violence, cursing, etc.) I had gotten to the point that I didn't even think about it as sinful anymore. I realized that this was one choice I had made that would tell the world I am no different, and that I condone or tolerate the sinful actions that I was watching. In addition to what I was telling others by my choices, I was filling my mind with images and ideas that Satan could later use to bring me down. I think there are probably many others, who like me, have become desensitized and even tolerant of sin because we see it everywhere. Jesus died a horrible death for us to separate us from these sins, and I almost feel as if we mock Him when we make the choice to watch it. This brings me back to the quote at the beginning of this blog. By choosing to stand against the entertainment that is offered to us today in movies, tv, books, etc. we tell the world that we refuse to defile our minds with the images and ideas it offers. We tell them that God's way is different and better!

Philippians 4:8 says "Finally brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report,if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." We tend to think about or meditate on the things we see and hear. Shouldn't we make sure the things we see and hear are noble, just, pure, and lovely?

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