Accomplishing Colossians 3:2 is impossible in our own strength, and as long as we live in this world, we can only improve in merely striving for that goal...but still, not in our own strength. As a Christian, we are promised the Holy Spirit as a Counselor to open our blinded eyes, restore our spiritual vision and enable us to see the Truth of the gospel of Christ. We Christians will fail. We will sin. We are not perfect. But still, there are conscious decisions we can make that may enable us to stand firm and "do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
What difference would it make in our daily thought process if we started the day with real spiritual food? Are we feeding our minds with the media's trash when reading a book would be much more nourishing?
My fingers are pointing to myself. A while back, I checked out the movie Gladiator from the library. We've seen it several times. It's rated R for violence. If you've ever seen this movie, you'd probably recognize my favorite part. The corrupt emperor demands that the leading gladiator tells him his true name. Maximus turns around and says, "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." The awful emperor trembles, just like we want him to.
We call this entertainment. Entertainment that we watch when the kids are in bed, or entertainment that we PAUSE if our children walk into the room. This is just one example. What about most cable TV shows? What about our Facebook habits? What about the novel we're reading? What about feeding our minds with our own selfish inner-mind rantings for 3+ hours at a time? How nourishing is that?
Really, what is feeding our minds? How does entertaining myself with Gladiator fit in with the command to "do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31)? Not sure. Check out John Piper's interesting post on how to drink orange juice to the glory of God. A practical solution to Gladiator: don't check it out...or (m)any movies for that matter. A practical solution to inner-mind rantings: feed myself with God's truth...such as..."take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2 ESV). Christians should be different, living IN but not according to the world. There are good and bad choices we can make. Which ones are fruitful?
I like John Piper's post. Sounds like if you applied that to movies, you might not necessarily forbid yourself movies, but rather watch with your mind and heart engaged: "Why do people in our culture like this? Where do God's truth and love meet this? How could I use this movie to converse with others about God?" Or you could watch a movie with gratitude for the beauty of the movie, or the inspiration of it, or the way it reminds you to seek God. (And I think even R-rated movies *can* do that -- probably depends on who you are what movies you can watch.)
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