Watch what you Watch

Philippians 4:8

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.

We spend so much time in front of screens in this generation. Tvs. phones, movies, music... we are bombarded with messages and images almost every second of our days. It's up to us to know what we are watching. More importantly what our children are watching.

Everything in the "kids section" of Netflix is NOT OK for your child to be watching. There is so much violence, so many shows above their comprehension with big adult feelings and situations they aren't ready to process. It is up to me as my son's mother to help him guard his heart, guard his purity, guard his innocence before he is able to guard it himself. I can see the innocence leave his little heart so quickly as I walk him through situations like talking about why we don't play "kill, kill, kill". Walking around our house doing that at 2 years old it made my heart ACHE! It had to come from somewhere.

How many children think swearing is funny, have no respect for other's property or authority, we wonder why kids go in and shoot up schools. It had to come from somewhere. It's not just the TV and video games, it's parents. Parents not taking the time to guard their children's hearts. Not helping them walk through all the images and feelings and this scary crazy life!

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Everything you do flows from your heart... Your opinions, the way you relate to your family, the way you relate to the person serving you at a restaurant, the way you handle your emotions, the values you hold dear.

Who and what has control of your heart? The media? Books, movies, music.... or is your heart wrapped up in Christ, in the Bible, in wholesome family entertainment (even if it's hard to find now a days it's WORTH the work to save your hearts) The translation of the Bible verse in the image says, diligence! That means careful and persistent work or effort!

I have walked out of movie theaters, thrown away books, purged our DVD collection over and over again. And each time my criteria gets more "old fashioned" I guess you could say, but I don't care.

If it has swearing, too much sex, overly portrayed gay acceptance, abuse, violence, immaturity, too "evil" of a villian or too many demon related things it doesn't belong in my home. It doesn't belong in my heart or my family's heart.

Satan is REAL. Demons are REAL. Spiritual warfare is REAL. You can argue that all you want but it's the truth. And Satan is a sneaky snake, a prowling lion. Things that seem funny or "not that bad" are such a foothold for Satan to creep in. Be mindful!

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

How much time are you spending behind a screen vs spending time in the word/with family etc. Quality time is not spent in front of a screen, quality time is looking someone in the eyes and having a meaningful conversation. We hesitate to start a conversation now because we walk in and the person is in the middle of "their show" and we don't want to interrupt them. People have their head phones on plugged into their own little world on their perspective devices. We view going to a movie as a great date option, but if there's no communication there it's just wasted time.

Don't get me started on video games. It is an addiction! Level up, you were so close, here buy this booster to help you get to the next level faster! And it's all at the click of a button! This generation's men aren't out tinkering on their fancy cars or watching TV. They're playing video games. It's something I feel like no one realizes or that it's thought that just kids are addicted. It's the kids that saw video games first come out, and are now turning into adults and the addiction has followed them! I know it's not just men. It's just the thing I hear so often in church when they are trying to talk to the men. They talk about the cars and the TV and the sports as reasons to ignore or miss out on family but they're missing the mark lately I feel by not including video games.

There's so much that we've just get immune to! Blood, SO MUCH BLOOD! I know you can turn it off, but sometimes people don't and I just can't watch that crap. Zombies walking around chopping people's heads off and that's somehow funny?

We are even becoming immune to death. Oh I can just re-boot if I die, Oh I'll use this healing potion to bring my character back to life. Then what does that make us think about Christ's death. Oh sure he just resurrected no big deal I do that in my video games all the time. Remember that sneaky snake Satan... He LOVES to play games like this! The more we watch characters die in games the less we feel bad about it, the less it shocks us. It should shock us to our core to see someone bleeding and dying! It should break our hearts! And it just doesn't anymore.

Why do all "bad guys" need to be shot and killed, when really bad guys are just lost people lacking Christ! Jesus forgave the "bad guy" that was hanging on the cross next to him. Today you will be with me in paradise! They are "bad guys" because they have let something else take over their hearts instead of Christ. It could happen to any one of us if we are not diligent about guarding our own hearts.

Sex gets eased into games too! Bouncing boobs on the characters, almost naked characters but it's "ok" since it's not a human it's an alien. NO! It's not ok.

Same with TV shows. I am an adult, but I do not need pornography in my tv shows. And they throw it in the middle of the season so you're already hooked on the characters and the plot and you want to finish the show. Nope not in this house we don't. It's absolutely terrible, embarrassing, disgusting to have to see my husband look at some other woman's boobs while I'm sitting right there next to him trying to enjoy a show. He absolutely, always shuts the TV off right away when it happens but it SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! When did we as a society decide this was ok!

God has so many commands against adultery and lust of the eyes and flesh. It doesn't matter if it's in person or on a screen. You should not be looking at naked people. PERIOD except your spouse! This world has "romanticized" watching people have sex and even suggested it as a "help" to people struggling in that area. The quickest way to fix your sex life is to STOP WATCHING OTHER PEOPLE HAVE IT. PERIOD. (This is another blog post in the making so I'll stop here for now :) )

Matthew 5:28-29

28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

1 John 2:16 (NLT)

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

Instead of our minds being filled with thankfulness, and memorizing scripture, and learning Bible stories we fill our minds with fictional characters. We get obsessed with names and back stories of movie characters, but how many Bible stories do we know that well? We can quote a movie front to back but ask us to quote a verse from the Bible and we can't. How can we teach our children about Christ if we can't recall stories and verses from memory. We are commanded to be teaching them Biblical truths all throughout our days! Instead what we often talk to our children about are fictional characters. It is great to dream, and imagine, and make believe don't get me wrong! But when that's all our minds are consumed with then it becomes an idol in our hearts!

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Exodus 20:3

"You shall have no other gods before me"

1 Corinthians 10:14-15

14 My friends, you must keep away from idols. 15 I am speaking to you as people who have enough sense to know what I am talking about.

Idols and other gods are anything taking place of Christ in our lives...

Listen to what comes out of your kid's mouths. Are they always talking about the "bad guy" they just killed in their video game, their favorite super hero characters, what type of attitudes do they have? Gratefulness, thankfulness, kindness? Or are they argumentative, violent, angry, emotional? It had to come from somewhere.

What do you find yourself thinking about all day? I can't wait to get home from work so I can catch up on my show! I can't wait to hit that next level in my video game tonight! We can't hear God when our heads are full of media chatter. People often say they never feel God speaking to them, or He doesn't do miracles anymore. I promise you He does we just aren't listening, and watching. Our hearts and minds are occupied elsewhere.

What are you watching? Why are you watching it? How much time are you spending on it? Who has control of your heart? God, or the world?

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.