Today I want to share my testimony
concerning the way God has lead in my life
in relation to entertainment. Movies, to be exact.
Growing up in a very conservative Mennonite family,
movies were taboo. Shortly after we got married,
we began to watch movies. A lot.
The ones we started out with were fairly decent.
But, as I have often told girls, that if we would have
taken the last movie that we watched, and watched
it first, we would have ran out of the room. Fast.
So, my first caution in movies is this.
There is a subtle progressive degeneration of values.
Think with me on this one. You watch a movie. A good one.
You're like, " I LOVE that movie. Just LOVE it."
"All except ____, (that one little thing that
irritated your conscience.) Lets say it was language.
Then what happens next is, you watch another one.
This time you don't think too much about the bad language;
even though it was there,
and you really like this movie, all except for _______.
(another irritation to your conscience)
And so the progression goes.
Those of you that have watched any amount of movies,
know exactly what I'm talking about.
My next caution is a reality check.
I don't think there is anyone on this earth that loves
to watch movies more than myself....
or at least than I used to.
O my word, curl up and for 90-120 minutes
soak up someone else's world.
Leave my own behind with all its troubling problems.
Only to emerge while the credits are still
scrolling up the screen, to emerge with such blah-ness.
To feel totally wasted.
Only often times, I didn't completely come back to reality.
It felt good to continue in that movie. Thinking. Fantasizing.
Ladies. Girls. Life is too short to waste your time and energy
in such emptiness.
My third caution is for emotional purity.
Come on, don't tell me they don't choose the best looking guys
for no reason.
They want the viewers to love these guys.
And Mennonite women are not exempt.
So, be honest with yourself. Be aware.
Phil. 4:8 whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Ask Jesus to show you His will. To give you the courage to follow.
Today I watch very few movies. Actually, I cannot remember
the last movie I watched. And the amazing thing, that does
not make me at all sad.
Not to brag. At all.
But rather to encourage you that when God works
in a certain area of a person's heart,
He completely changes the desires of that heart.
And that change brings complete freedom!!
Praise God!
