ViewerShip

Our eyes are the crucial and influential means for taking in information.  It can affect how we feel about, view, or understand concepts.  Jesus talked about the importance of our eyes in Mathew 6:22-23 and Luke 11:34-35calling the eyes “the lamp of your body.”  As a lamp needs to be fed oil to give light, our hearts do as well.  What goes in can feed sinfulness of godliness.  We are being fed an array of visual media (T.V., movies, internet, advertisements, etc.) not much different from a buffet-most of it is “junk food.”  We are consuming this “junk” daily.  How many of us stop to ask ourselves: Why am I watching this? What is the value in it? Is this pleasing to God?  Paul reminds us in the beginning of Romans Chapter 12 (Verses 1-3) what we should do and what is more important.  We are not meant to conform to this world but be renewing our minds – does “junk” do that? 

However, simply watching is not the problem.  It’s the excess.  People schedule their lives around their shows and could never miss a single episode.  Others become emotionally attached to non-existent fictional characters in a falsely interactive world.  Some even invest countless hours discussing, thinking and watching their shows.  Getting caught up in the next narrative and anticipating it like Christmas morning. 

I don’t sit on my high horse, aghast at the horrors of others.  I am reflecting on my past conduct, and that of those I know or have known.  I have wasted hours upon hours straight on watching whole season of old T.V. shows.  Stepping back and looking at that behaviour I am appalled at myself.  I have not had a T.V. for two years now and I am still alive!  Instead I read books, take walks, or do crafts.  I write, take pictures, or socialize with friends.  But I still check Facebook 3 times a day, watch more So You Think You can Dance clips then I need to, and I have a husband who spends hours finding out everything he can about politics.  I catch a movie but I want it to fit into my schedule not the other way around.  There is a verse from the word to help encourage us to stay strong. 

“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” -- Psalm 119:37