If you had met me any time before two years, and we were to have a conversation, sooner or later, you would realise that I was really into movies. I was the kind of person who bragged about my movie collection- horror, sci-fi, Korean dramas, medical series, RomCom, I had it all! Hours of my time was spent on watching and re-watching these.
Here’s my story of how I overcame this love of my flesh.
When I was in my third year of college, a friend invited me to attend church with her. This church was unlike my traditional orthodox church. The presence of God was so evident. I didn’t comprehend it fully that time, but I knew something moved in me and I wanted to know God more.
When God convicts, Listen!
One of the first convictions I had after this encounter with the Lord was regarding my love for non-Christian media, be it movies, series or songs. I knew the Lord was speaking, but my flesh and my soul argued- but it takes my mind off everything else, it makes me feel good, everyone watches it Lord! But the Lord remained silent to my tantrums.
Few months later, I was taking a stroll one evening with a friend from the same church. As she shared with me, her encounters with the Lord, my heart was burning. I asked her what she thought about non-Christian media. She just said this, “If the Lord is convicting you, you must listen to Him”.
That conviction sank deep in my spirit, and now it began a good work in me. As I kept seeking God, He opened my eyes to things I couldn’t perceive before.
Here are two main reasons I feel why non-Christian media is toxic:
1. Manipulated perspective
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. Proverbs 23:7
The eyes and ears are windows to your soul. What you constantly watch and hear alters the way you think. Worldly movies make Christianity look boring and wickedness look fun and exciting. They excite your senses and manipulate your emotions.
I was addicted to one of the popular comedy series years back. One day, when I was with some friends, they played an episode of this series. One of the actors cracked a joke that was directly against my Christian faith. Initially I laughed but then soon I realized what I was doing. I decided in my heart never again to watch it again. This was my first big breakthrough!
I have heard countless stories of how this media is addictive and can cause irrational fears and anxieties to develop within you. These have an innocent, glamorous appearance on the outside, but at the core of it is darkness.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23
2. Irretrievable Time
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
The enemy knows that your time is precious, and he will do everything to steal it. A study shows that the average person spends more than 78,000 hours of their life watching television. Don’t allow the temporary pleasures of this world to steal your time, which once lost, cannot be retrieved.
“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath.” Psalm 39:4-5
Over the years that followed, the closer I got to Jesus, the entertainment of this world got dimmer and dimmer until I no longer desired it.
I believe you are not reading this by chance. If there is any bit of conviction in your heart regarding this area of your life, I would say, Ask God to reveal to you, what you cannot see. Only He can fill the vacuum of your heart and give you a life of abundance!
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