Proverbs 9:6, “Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.”
Relinquish your hold on foolish things and live! Wow, powerful words, especially in our day and age where foolish things are abounding in our homes, schools and workplaces. We are bombarded daily by the foolish things of this world, through our TVs, Radios, and Internet. Are you really listening to what you are taking in each day or are you being changed without even knowing it? I’m not calling you to forsake education or knowledge of what’s happening in your world, but rather, are you hearing truly what is being said? Years ago a minister was preaching about the music we listen to and recounted a story of riding with some teenagers in their car while returning from a trip. The kids had the radio on and they were singing to every song. When the pastor asked them how long it took them to memorize these songs, the kids couldn’t answer. The pastor then said are you even hearing the words of these songs, many of the songs I’ve heard you sing are not God honoring, is that how you really think? The point he made with the kids is that sin comes in a variety of shapes, forms and processes. Often, it is a slow daily dose of something we have allowed into our lives and homes that we don’t even realize is there. But we are changing, we are agreeing and we are becoming dull to the calling of Wisdom.
When we think how much time we spend on the various communication methods that provide insight into the world around us it is staggering to think of the comparison of how little time we spend in God’s Word. We’re all guilty of allowing the foolish thoughts into our lives…let us turn those buttons off and listen to the Word of God for just one day and see how much He reveals to you about Himself.
Abiding Still
How true this is!!! We are working very hard on monitoring what is going into our minds and our children's minds through what we watch, listen to and read. One area that has become quite a challenge lately is children's books. There is so much that is written to get children and parents to slowly accept that many forms of witchcraft are OK...even at times good...Our seven year old reads at a 4th grade level and that has put us in a position of having to work very closely with him on what he is checking out from the school library or reading for fun in his classroom. We have used these opportunities as teachable moments to talk about what the books are saying and asking him if they honor God once he understands the books' messages. He has been able to make the decision to avoid reading them and as he says...filling his mind with things that don't bring glory to God. We are really looking forward to homeschooling him next Fall so that we can work more closely with him on his education. The month of October was very difficult. His teacher is very into Halloween and haunted houses, witches, ghosts, spells and all of these things are "fun and harmless". We do not agree. We helped Josh do some research on Halloween and he decided that he wanted to stay home and play board games and eat popcorn with his family instead of going trick or treating this year. We were so proud of him. He said that he couldn't go and participate in something that doesn't bring glory to God if He was telling people that He believes one thing he can't do the opposite because they would think he was a liar. He didn't want his actions to confuse them. Wow!
ReplyDeleteNovember is a little easier...focusing on giving thanks...we are working hard at not allowing the secular focus of expensive gifts to show love hurt our family. Its work but it is so important and worth it!
Thank you so much for this post, dear friend!!!
Blessings to you and your family!
Mary Joy