November 11, 2005

 

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

                                                          --1 Corinthians 10:12

 

When I was 11 years old, I was riding my bicycle in a wooded area a quarter of a mile from my home in east Fort Worth. I saw some pictures lying on the ground, so I pulled over and picked them up. For the first time, I saw pornography. That’s been over 40 years ago and I still carry the scars of what I saw. That accidental uncovering raped my mind as a child!

 

It is so vitally important that you and I cleanse our minds daily with the Word of God, and teach our families to do the same. And while most think pornography is a cheap thrill, it’s not — it’s costly, addictive, degrading, and deadly. It destroys what God considers sacred — the relationship between a husband and wife committed to Him and one another.

 

Be wise in choosing the kinds of movies you see with your family, train the ears of your children to love music of praise to God, and saturate their hearts and minds with Scripture every day. Don’t be fooled into blurring the lines of holiness. Nudity, profanity, and obscenity should never be tolerated by believers in movies, on television, or in music.

 

You may wonder: can we really change things and win this cultural battle in America? Frankly, I don’t know, but I do know that you and I should never give up trying. We must realize that:

 

  • We are different in the world — separate from the sin in our society and the perversion that exists.
  • We must abstain from fleshly lust. Satan is waging war on believers, and while we are to love, pray for, and share Christ with others in the world, we must abstain from the sin that’s in it.
  • We are watched by the world. If you watch the same movies, read the same books, listen to the same music, and participate in the same sinful things as non-believers, what makes you any different from them?

 

Determine to life your life different from the world — a life that is not defiled. Don’t sell your birthright as a child of God for a cesspool of filth. You and I are to be so obviously, genuinely, and humbly pure that the world sees Christ in us. May God help us take back our culture for the sake of our children, our children’s children, and those who follow.

 

OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS BELIEVERS IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IS TO RECLAIM THE MORAL CLIMATE OF OUR CULTURE.