One of the memories I have of my dad is one time, him sitting on his chair like he did every night with one leg on the arm of the chair like the cool O.G that he was ;-) and he said to me, "Those people you're watching there have a job and careers and they are getting paid to be there. Don't waste your time watching them, instead of building those things for yourself."
I wouldn't say I was addicted, I was just a lonely kid and TV was my outlet into the world...sad, but true. Anyway, I'm almost all grown up now. I don't have parents waiting in the living room to manage my TV time. It's just me and my laptop...together...all-the-time!
I'm pretty good at recognizing God's voice in the middle of watching a TV show saying, "OK, time to hang out with Me now." Whether I say yes or no is another matter entirely. To be honest, I'm kind of sick of it.
If you're like me & don't have a TV in your house, you know, the lengths you go to to watch shows online is pretty crazy. Ads upon ads, sometimes regular ads, sometimes "What the he--?! Esc key! Esc key! Esc key!" type ads.
Then, there's the shows themselves, it just never ends, there's always going to be a funnier show next season and then they get cancelled and another show comes up and gets cancelled and your mind is filled with all these unresolved story lines. Also, I mean, we shut our minds off to it, but, you guys, it's getting so crazy these days. It's always about sex and whose having sex with who and who killed who and who's cheating on who and the steamy scenes are getting longer and longer and racier and racier. I'm not trying to "holier-than-thou" anything, but, I think it's healthy to take a step back sometimes and evaluate where you're at.
Right now, I'm not at a good spot. My life if beautifully full with great things that can sometimes feel a little overwhelming and TV is a great spot to run away to, but, it doesn't feel right for me right now. I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago, but I chickened out on posting it because of Fall Premiere week - just being real! But I've been getting a bunch of words from people I totally respect - totally unrelated to this topic, but in the back of my mind, I know God meant those conversations for this reason. I have to honor that still small voice. Stuff like one of my dads being like, "You have really beautiful eyes, the eyes of Jesus" and my mind goes to, "Jesus would probably not be using His eyes to watch..." Basically, all the information I get about sex & relationships, apart from now being here at Bethel, is from TV.
The worst thing we can do as Christians is try to add new rules and condemnation to our lives so this isn't a rule. If I wanna watch something tomorrow morning, I can totally do that freely. Jesus said in Matthew 10:17, "I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again." Anyway, I don't know what this means for me, for sure, I'm not going to watch the intense drama I loved, but what about comedies that seem pretty decent? I guess, I'm just going to have to work it out with Holy Spirit by myself. God help me!
I wouldn't say I was addicted, I was just a lonely kid and TV was my outlet into the world...sad, but true. Anyway, I'm almost all grown up now. I don't have parents waiting in the living room to manage my TV time. It's just me and my laptop...together...all-the-time!
I'm pretty good at recognizing God's voice in the middle of watching a TV show saying, "OK, time to hang out with Me now." Whether I say yes or no is another matter entirely. To be honest, I'm kind of sick of it.
If you're like me & don't have a TV in your house, you know, the lengths you go to to watch shows online is pretty crazy. Ads upon ads, sometimes regular ads, sometimes "What the he--?! Esc key! Esc key! Esc key!" type ads.
Then, there's the shows themselves, it just never ends, there's always going to be a funnier show next season and then they get cancelled and another show comes up and gets cancelled and your mind is filled with all these unresolved story lines. Also, I mean, we shut our minds off to it, but, you guys, it's getting so crazy these days. It's always about sex and whose having sex with who and who killed who and who's cheating on who and the steamy scenes are getting longer and longer and racier and racier. I'm not trying to "holier-than-thou" anything, but, I think it's healthy to take a step back sometimes and evaluate where you're at.
Right now, I'm not at a good spot. My life if beautifully full with great things that can sometimes feel a little overwhelming and TV is a great spot to run away to, but, it doesn't feel right for me right now. I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago, but I chickened out on posting it because of Fall Premiere week - just being real! But I've been getting a bunch of words from people I totally respect - totally unrelated to this topic, but in the back of my mind, I know God meant those conversations for this reason. I have to honor that still small voice. Stuff like one of my dads being like, "You have really beautiful eyes, the eyes of Jesus" and my mind goes to, "Jesus would probably not be using His eyes to watch..." Basically, all the information I get about sex & relationships, apart from now being here at Bethel, is from TV.
The worst thing we can do as Christians is try to add new rules and condemnation to our lives so this isn't a rule. If I wanna watch something tomorrow morning, I can totally do that freely. Jesus said in Matthew 10:17, "I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again." Anyway, I don't know what this means for me, for sure, I'm not going to watch the intense drama I loved, but what about comedies that seem pretty decent? I guess, I'm just going to have to work it out with Holy Spirit by myself. God help me!
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