MATTHEW 6:22
I love movies. I love going to the movie theater with my friends, eating popcorn, and watching a movie. It’s something that has become ingrained in our culture. Lately, I’ve been convicted about the movies I watch. Once I went to a friend’s birthday party. I didn’t know she had rented a couple of movies that were R-rated and full of gore, swearing, violence, and sex. I felt disgusted as I sat there before the television. I felt paralyzed, forced to watch these terrible images and hear sounds that would be burned into my mind forever. And then the movies began to take the Lord’s name in vain … over and over. My spirit felt grieved. I wanted to stand up and say something. All my other friends there were Christians, and here we were sitting and watching a movie that cursed our Savior and ridiculed everything we believed. But I just couldn’t. I could not make myself stand up and make the suggestion to turn off the trash. I was afraid. I pretended like I was falling asleep so I didn’t have to watch the screen. Once at home, I cried on my dad’s shoulder. Why am I ashamed? Why could I not stand up for the name of my Lord? After seeing those movies, I decided on something: I will honor Jesus’ holy and precious Name, even in the movies I watch. Now I’m very careful about the images I put into my mind. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “You are what you eat.” I like to say “You become what you watch.”
Rebecca Wilson, 18, Maranatha Christian Academy, Oakwood, GA
God, I know that the things I watch and read
can have a real effect on me if I let them. Help me
to stay away from things that You wouldn’t approve of.