I entered the room of a friend in nursing care. Blaring on the TV was the program Smackdown from World Wrestling Entertainment. The wrestlers were doing all their legendary moves: the tombstone; the piledriver; the powerbomb and the stone-cold stunner.
But what was truly stunning was that the person watching the program was an elderly, Great-grandmother who was missing most of her teeth.
I was amazed and amused. It caused me, however, to consider my viewing habits. My wife and I were recently watching a military drama on TV. We finished the last season but found that we could purchase two more seasons from another provider.
So, I spent $19.99 and began to stream it but we were quickly disgusted. There was a barrage of vulgar profanity. I had forgotten that the nasty stuff had been bleeped out of the seasons that we had previously watched.
This got me to thinking. About that same time, I was reading through the Gospel of Mark, and I found some applicable words from Jesus. He addressed His disciples saying, “Take care what you listen to” – Mark 4:24.
His concern was the teaching of the Pharisees. He wanted His disciples to be aware of the sinister way that evil teaching can penetrate and destroy.
But I am thinking Jesus might look at my TV screen and also say to me “Take care what you listen to.”
You see, as a teenager I cussed like a sailor. But at age 19 I was crucified with Christ and raised again in the newness of life. My life changed in every way, including my vocabulary. I learned a new way to think, and to express myself when I hit my thumb with a hammer.
But I find that when I watch a program with profanity or I’m around people who use it, it tends to energize and resurrect my old vocabulary. Then when my thumb gets mashed, I may not spout profanity, but I think it. And I don’t even want to think it!
The patriarch Job was concerned about the things that he saw. He said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin?” Job 31:1.
Evidently, Job had decided to never lustfully gaze upon a woman who was not his wife. That was how he protected the sanctity of his mind and his marriage. This would be hard to do, however, if his flat screen were streaming smut.
Did you know that you are 6 times more likely to yawn after seeing someone else yawn? Our course you know that. You may be yawning now just because it was mentioned. What we see and hear influences the way we think and act.
I learned that the first recorded use of a firearm was in 1364 A.D. So, we have a history of almost a thousand years of guns. But what we do not find in history are people going into schools and malls and randomly shooting the innocent.
Yet it happens today with a sickening frequency. Could it be because we are not so careful about what we see and hear? Could this be what happens when a kid fills his hours with violent movies and video games?
All I know is that what I hear and see affects what I think and do. I have always treasured the words of David who wrote in the Psalms. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” – Psalm 19:14. I have even put the verse to music.
But how can the meditations of my heart be acceptable to the Lord, when I am hearing and seeing things that poison my soul?
I flipped the TV off and decided to count the $19.99 spent as lost. But what I’ve kept is of far greater value.
A PRAYER: Lord this is a constant battle for me and many others. Help us please!
This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com
May the grace of our Lord be with you
Scripture passages are from the New American Standard Updated edition
Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson 