TV Wincing

Dear Victorious,

We have teen-agers and the television is on at our house all of the time. I guess I don't mind it so much, because our whole family really likes to watch TV. But more and more I find the things I see on television to be disconcerting. It's like some kind of pain or something - only it doesn't really hurt. It just makes me wince. We try to stay away from blatantly bad TV (like Jerry Springer or R rated movies). Nevertheless, we stumble into things that should be okay. They just feel like they're not. What is going on here?

Concerned

Dear Concerned,

Philippians 4:8 provides the best wisdom I know of. It says that, as Christians, we are to fix our minds on things that are excellent, lovely and "worthy of praise." That doesn't mean that we have to stand in a holy huddle all the time and be religious all the time. There are plenty of things in the secular world that are excellent and worthy of praise. But there are plenty of things that are not.

The TV shows that we watch, the movies we go to, the books and magazines that we read, the web sites we visit, the music we listen to, the places we shop --- all of it should be "excellent and worthy of praise." I once heard someone describe is as watching things we wouldn't be embarrassed to have Jesus find us watching. (That's silly of course, as Jesus does find us watching whatever it is we're watching!) So if it isn't "excellent and worthy of praise," I do NOT have permission from my heavenly Father to watch it, read it, listen to it, visit it, or even spend time thinking about it. It really is as simple as that.

We get into trouble when we justify our bad choices by allowing the world to set our standards. Just because a movie isn't rated R doesn't mean that it's okay to watch. Just because it's a family sitcom doesn't mean that it's okay to watch. Just because a song doesn't have satanic or sexual lyrics doesn't mean it's okay to listen to it. No, our true filter is "excellent and worthy of praise" - from God's perspective. You know about God's nature and character. What do you think God would find "excellent and worthy of praise?" Fix your thoughts and your attention on such things. Visit them, sing them, watch them, read them.

The wincing that's going on in you is the Holy Spirit telling you to turn off the TV. Remember, He lives in you. He's trying to lead you into righteousness. He'll tell you when you're not in righteousness. The next time something comes on TV that makes you wince, that's a good sign you should change the channel or turn off the TV. Better yet, don't wait for the wincing to occur. When you're flipping channels and decide to watch something, ask yourself, "Would Jesus define this as 'excellent and worthy of praise?'"