I woke the other morning around 3:30 am. After laying in bed for 30 minutes trying to go back to sleep, I realized that I wouldn't, I grabbed my books and headed downstairs. When I got to the living room I noticed light coming through the window that isn't usually there in the morning. I looked toward the front door and I saw that we had left the door unlocked and the porch light on.
I breathed a prayer of thankfulness that nothing had happened anyway and I flipped the switch off and bolted the door. As I moved through the kitchen to make coffee and then into the living room again to settle down to spend some time with God, He was already speaking.
He said, "You haven't been guarding your home. You have been leaving the door unlocked and the light on for Satan. You have welcomed him into your house over and over again."
You see I'd been lazy. I wasn't keeping my guard up. I invited television and movies inside my home that didn't need to be here. I let our internet be unfiltered all this time, thinking I'd get around to downloading that software sometime. I'd let mobile devices and computers steal my family time. I'd let the T.V. babysit my children because I was too tired to make much effort. I let books in that if they weren't bad, they didn't speak truth and goodness into our ears. The girls would download popular songs onto their devices and then they would all sing them and for a while before I would realize that my small daughters didn't need to be belting out lyrics about boyfriends and dating and a worldly love that I don't ever want them to experience or understand. Pop culture and worldly traditions that seemed harmless had come to visit here.
I had pledged my home to the Lord, but did it look much different than a home that hadn't?
In Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild by Mary Kassian she quotes Joshua Harris,
"The greatest danger of the popular media is not a one-time exposure to a particular instance of sin (as serious as that can be). Its how long-term exposure to worldliness--little chunks of poison pill, day after day, week after week--can deaden our hearts to the ugliness of sin...The eventual effect of all those bits of poison pill is to deaden the conscience by trivializing the very things that God call the enemies of our souls.
Does anyone really believe that if I disapprove of the sin I'm watching, or roll my eyes and mutter about Hollywood's wickedness, or fast-forward through the really bad parts my soul is not affected? Yeah, sure--and if you don't actually like chocolate cake, eating it won't add to your waistline."
1 Peter 5:8 "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."
As I sat there, I thought of four ways that we allow this to happen:
1.
We aren't aware of the danger. These are the things we have always done. We have become so immune to the evil we don't see it. We aren't seeking God's will or His word about all things around us. We are babies in faith and haven't sought to be discipled or given the chance to be. Our eyes are blinded from the evil because we haven't met truth.
2.
We are lazy. It would take effort to fill our time with something else. It is easier to allow the world to come in than to fight it out. Going along with the crowd is always easier. We just don't think about it and keep on sleeping.
3.
We think we've got a handle on it. We think we can filter out the bad and only receive the good into our hearts and minds. We convince ourselves that what we watch isn't really that bad.
4.
We are in willful disobedience.We know what the danger is. God has told us to remove it and shut it out. We just choose not to do what He says.
It is my responsibility to be on watch. God warns us over and over in His word that Satan will be after us.
I Corinthians 16:13 "Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong."
I Thessalonians 5:6 "So be on your guard, not asleep, like the others. Stay alert and clearheaded."
2 Peter 3:17 "I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends, Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing."
I am responsible for weighing what comes in against the truth of God's word.
Philippians 4:8 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Mary Kassian writes,
"Satan tries to lull us with the sweet smell and steady thrum of worldliness. He wants us to forget God and become enchanted with evil. Stamping out his influence and listening to godly counsel is the only way to escape his subtle, yet powerful scheme."
She goes on to challenge the readers of the book to reduce their media intake for at least a month. To watch less or no T.V. and or movies, To not read worldly magazines or surfing the internet. And take that time that you gain and spend it seeking truth. Ask God to help you know what it good and what is evil and for the wisdom to make the right choices for yourself, your home and your family.
As I posted on the Girls Gone Wise Bible study wall, we disconnected our satellite service because it wasn't a service to our home. Even the channels that I had convinced myself weren't bad had things in them that made me cringe. We received free movie channels that were not fit for anyone's viewing.
We have filtered our internet and have cut it's usage by at least 80%. We are allowing it for work and school and for any use that might be edifying (I pray that my blogging is).
Before we did this, I had put it off because I was scared of what we would miss, or wondered how we would spend our time. But then, something bigger than a media reduction challenge forced me to want to shut the world out. There are consequences that I don't want to have to pay anymore.
Guess what? We are on day 4 and we have hardly noticed. We have enjoyed talking to one another. We have enjoyed singing together. We have enjoyed praying together. We have just enjoyed BEING together and present with one another not just in body but in mind and spirit. (I'll keep you posted to see if we continue to enjoy each other or not.) I personally have had time to spend on my Bible studies instead of just rushing through them. There aren't any blank pages. I have time to absorb His message and dwell on it for a while so that I can receive it. I'm not just chucking knowledge at my brain and seeing it slide off. It's taking root there and hopefully it will grow to be a part of me.
I know that everyone needs to make the right choices for his or her home. The ones we have made may not be right for you. But, I urge you to seek what God would have you do and then walk in obedience to that. Because my friends I don't want you to get caught with the door unlocked and the porch light on, like I did.
Click on this to read Joshua Harris's full article "Like to Watch" to learn more ways to help us become more discerning about our media choices.
Much love to you,
Anna becoming
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