We’re simultaneously embroiled in three seasons which wreak havoc with the airwaves — PBS fund-raisers, hurricane reporting, and election coverage. The interminable appeals for money delivered with monotonous regularity in uninspiring and repetitious monologues cause me to shun public broadcasting stations. The obsessive and panic-laced predictions of hurricane paths followed by the harrowing accounts of horrific outcomes that drone on hour after hour have become so unbearable that I seek weather information elsewhere. The current election campaigns are delving into the lower realms of muck-raking and hate-mongering in desperate attempts to malign those they oppose so I switch off the major networks and watch a DVD, or turn to channels which are devoid of politics.
You have to watch what you’re watching! Paul says it this way: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8). It’s a challenge to find anything that is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, or praiseworthy on the major networks! If it is even possible! Why fill our minds with what is wrong when we’re supposed to be truth-seekers?
Paul encourages: “If the you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). The apostle also warns against following the example of those who are “enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). These two texts, alone, should make us careful about our viewing habits and what we feed our minds via other channels such as reading and listening to radio.
As a pizza ad urges: “Let’s gather round the good stuff.” People gathered round Jesus and listened to Him in wonder as hours passed. We have His words in our hands in translations which can captivate our minds without distorting the original message. We can find wholesome movies on DVD or videotape. There are good novels which are devoid of gutter language and criminal intent — we just have to look a little harder. Look for the true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, or praiseworthy!