Do not imitate what is evil but what is good. 3 John 11
In this 7th Chapter of Meeting God in Quiet Places, F. LaGard smith has posed the question: Do human beings, like the original Jacob sheep, imitate what they focus on--what they see--with their eyes? The answer is YES! It is human nature to imitate the "art" you see before your eyes. Does that give us a clue about what we should choose to look at, or are we clueless?
As you understand, your eyes feed your imagination. This means that what you imagine can be as spiritually damaging as what you actually do. Now let's look at what Jesus had to say about what we see. You may even remember Jesus' statement about looking, lusting, and sinning: "I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This direct connection between eye and sin is very powerful. In fact, Jesus says that if your eye offends you, "gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Gouge out my eye?!!! Are you serious? Yes...because it's a serious matter.
Are you one of those men who looks at nearly naked women in a movie, in a catalog, or in a magazine without giving it a thought? Do you have sons who are looking at them with you? Even if you believe you can "handle" it, what about your son? You must give some thought to what you're doing--training your son. Jesus says, "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!" What you see affects what is in your heart!
Let your eyes have screens to guard what is inside you. You see, you think, you do. It's just about that simple. You progress from seeing to imagining to imitating. Sometimes the imitation doesn't come right away, but chances are that it will affect your behavior somewhere down the line. One thing always builds on another.
So how do you set about changing your character, making Jesus' character your own? First of all, you can transform your own thinking and behavior by looking to Jesus for your model: His character becomes yours, His higher ways become your ways, your spirit becomes like His Spirit. That may sound very far above you, if you don't realize that it's a process of becoming more spiritual. It may take some time, but the effort in this case is truly worth it.
What does the apostle Paul have to say to us about being pure: "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."
You should take the time to compare your daily thinking to what is called for in the scriptures. If you're watching off-color television shows or movies--and that includes the half-naked females in them--you are watching shows that were considered pornography only a generation ago. Satan has certainly won that battle!
Your life can't bring goodness out of badness. James puts it much better than I, when he says: "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." You can't have it both ways! If what you're seeing in your life is impure, then you can't expect to be pure. And perhaps that doesn't interest you at the moment. My advice is to take care while you have time.
And you also have an advantage over the Jacob sheep. God never sets temptation in front of you, the way Jacob put the images before the sheep. So you have a choice. If I seem to be hitting on the men more than the women, it's because television has found a large, willing group in men, and in our time, it seems that the women go along with it. Where are the moral women of decades past?
Our lack of morals is bringing our families and this country to their knees. It isn't a difficult thing to say no to Satan--if you decide that's what you want to do--and if you put your mind and heart into thinking about your husband or your wife, and your children. Satan has lulled us into a stupor in regard to what we see. Show him how you really feel!
Have a wonderful week, giving thought to what you're imitating and all the gifts from God you have.
Blessings...Mimi
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