There is one thing in particular that is distracting some of us from giving fuller service to our Father– and it should not be. Everyone should agree that as our Lord’s return approaches, the use of our time is very important. With the day almost upon us, it can hardly be deemed right for us to be wasting our time in front of the TV set and movie screen polluting our minds with the world. The word of God says: “Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (II Cor. 6:17). If we choose to let the evils of the world into our minds, we should recognize we are not following this principle.
TV, videos, movies
Apart from the time it wastes, nobody can rightly say that watching most material presented on TV, videos or movies is a positive influence. Everything is produced with the objective of attracting viewers. This is often done by stimulating the lusts of the flesh. Accordingly, very few programs are free of violence, sexual appeal, swearing or blasphemy.
Many advertisements use sexual appeal, and other fleshly lusts, to sell products often making us discontented. We can easily forget the word of scripture, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have…” (Heb. 13:5).
We should ask ourselves, “When was the last time we saw something we would feel comfortable watching with our Lord all the way through?” TV and movies portray the things which God hates; this should be our feeling also! Consider the words of the apostle Paul, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:32).
Do we enjoy wrong?
How can we sit and willingly hear God’s name blasphemed? It is constantly heard on TV. In scripture, we are directly commanded, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the Law will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Ex. 20:7).
Are we willing to watch two lovers in a bed of sin? This situation is regularly shown on TV.
As conscientious objectors are we not hypocrites if we willingly entertain ourselves with the violence portrayed by TV?
We are told that the flesh is manifested by, “Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition’s, heresies, envying’s, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like…they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).
We are likewise warned by other scriptures, “Love not the world…if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him…the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2:15,16). Most TV, videos and movies are, without any doubt, “of the world.”
Rather than filling our minds with such things, we should “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
Practice a right routine
Our daily routine should include activities such as Bible readings, ecclesial meetings, discussions and activities with the family, personal Bible study, visits to ecclesial members in need, preaching the Truth, etc. Even if we do these things, however, we should remember the full exhortation of James: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world’ (James 1:27).
Instead of immersing our minds with sin, we should “receive with meekness the engrafted word” keeping ourselves “unspotted from the world.” If we agree, why do some of us spend evenings at the movies or in front of the TV? We should spend that valuable time absorbing and being doers of the word of God which is able to make us wise unto salvation. If we think worldly relaxation and diversion will ensure our name remains in the book of life, Scripture tells us we are deceiving ourselves.
Some of us seem to insist on using our leisure time to continually permit sin into our minds. It is our choice to use our spare time as we wish: “Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15 RV).
Why have a TV?
If we have a TV in our home, we should ask ourselves, Why do we? Maybe we would answer, “To watch the news, videos on history or past ecclesial functions.” We could not do such things without a television. The response sounds innocent enough, yet it may be far from valid.
Our hearts easily excuse those activities we do not want to give up and even with good motives, we probably waste precious hours on unprofitable viewing. We need also to consider our family and friends in our choices. Giving our children “harmless” videos to watch in the safety of our homes can encourage them to become dependent on TV. If we rely on TV for entertainment, our children will probably do so to an even greater degree.
Dangerous for our families
Lot was vexed in “seeing and hearing” the ways and conversation of the Sodomites (II Peter 2:6-8). Yet the influence to which he subjected his family contributed to their downfall. By allowing our families to be continually exposed to TV and movies, we are doing likewise. Let us believe the word of God; it is not worth the compromise. Get rid of the TV before it fills the mind of your family and steals your own time.
Like Noah and Abraham, we can provide our families with a godly environment rather than the conditions of Sodom and Gomorrah. If we feed on fleshly things or “have pleasure in them that do them,” we “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
We all know what was said to the virgins who had no oil in their lamps, yet we can let the flesh pull us down the same broad path. Those who stubbornly follow this broad path will find the door shut.
Look to the glorious prospect
“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppression’s, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high…thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off…thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down” (Isa. 33:15-20, cf. Psa. 101:3).
Our eyes should be focused as were those of our Master, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” and as a result is “set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Competing gods
The Lord said, “Thou shalt have none other gods before me” (Deut. 5:7). Our focus must be in only one direction. If our attention is torn between two gods, we are serving two masters.
We can hardly teach our children to dedicate their minds to God’s word when they are constantly torn between two gods. If we love our children and want to ensure their inheritance, we will not allow other gods to come between them and their Master. These young minds should be constantly fed with the water of the word to ensure that they grow into fruitful trees. While daily Bible reading will help this growth, it is an activity which can easily be displaced when other gods demand their attention.
Israel succumbed to the same weakness with tangible idols. They were told to keep these “other gods” out of their homes: “…Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing” (Deut. 7:25,26).
This warning applies to us as much as it did to Israel. Having an abomination inside the home threatened to mold an Israelite just like it.
Keeping our garments clean
We have been given a white garment. It is our responsibility to keep it unspotted from the world. We have been given the necessary tools to overcome the flesh; a great blessing awaits us if we do so. If we do not dedicate ourselves to the Father, however, we will not be among those of whom it will be said, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
If we are not prepared to serve God day and night now, we should not complain if we are denied this honor in His kingdom. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One