The Silly Box

I am on vacation with my family so I thought I'd go way back and pull out some posts from the beginning.  This one was written last summer.

'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.'  Phillipians 4:8



We just got back into town Monday after a nice, not-long-enough, family trip. We had TV (Jon goes nowhere without his satellite and access to the FOX Carolina 10 o'clock news...nowhere) but didn't watch much of it save cartoons and HGTV.

As we came home, I realized how much we depend on the silly box and it's ability to entertain us. We can't even come into the house without someone turning it on...sometimes just for the noise, I think. I wonder what it would be like to have no TV at all. Would we be totally out of touch with the outside world? Would our world collapse if we didn't see every new episode of CSI's or Deadliest Catch? What about Disney, Animal Planet, Nickelodeon? And even the occassional Fox News Channel for the latest about how bad our world is and how it is falling apart?

I think it could be the best thing that has ever happened to us! I have stopped watching some of the things that I used to watch (General Hospital, One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy, etc.) because I thought...man, what would Jesus think if He came back to earth right now and this is what I was doing?

But I'm pretty sure He'd feel that way about most anything we fill our minds with on the TV, movies, books, etc. What is more important than studying the Word of God and renewing our minds with His truth? NOTHING!

So that is what I am challenging myself to do this summer. Instead of coming in and turning on the TV...read a christian novel (which I love to do), do a bible study, read to my kids, play a game...anything other than turning on the silly box and losing ourselves in it instead of God or our family!

God is in control of this world, no matter if we can watch it happen on the 10 o'clock news or hear about it from a co-worker, He has it all under His feet! We just need to look up and draw our daily bread from Him!!

We've still got the TV, but I can say that I do think about what I watch before I turn something on.  I still do not watch the shows I decided to cut out!