Viewer Discretion: The Lamps of our Body

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. (Luke 11:34 NIV)

Sometimes we tend to get lost in this world full of attractions and temptations. It contains many things to lure and entrap us; we then get hooked onto something of the flesh or of the earth.

God has been very kind to me and given us a great blessing through this renewed life. There are so many ways and productive ways we can divert our attention and focus from these 'spiritual killers' if we exercise restraint, self control and adhere to our standards of leading a life that is by the Lord and in the Lord.

TV can have a big influence on our lives because we take in constant images and messages that play on our mind. It is also a source of a lot of wasted time sitting in front of the big box and doing nothing productive. It incites cravings in us for holidays, bigger mansions, food, to become fitter or more beautiful etc; always encouraging us to want more. Sure it has a few benefits, but the bad outweighs the good.

Movies on the other hand can also have a huge negative effect on our soul. There are many which encourage an influx of negative emotions in us. And with the current spate of the lurid and open exhibition of blatant ideas and extreme portrayals of angst, hatred, despair, sadness and anxiety the movies hardly have anything to relax us which they were meant to do. Rather in stark contrast they are just perturbing our senses and just exasperating us with these weird thoughts, ideologies and visual pain.

One needs time to recover from these assault. If we think about this then one might arrive at the conclusion that to make an evil movie one has to be evil oneself. But then isn't it our own decision to let them or not to allow them to enter our thoughts? It is upto our own discretion at the end of the day to segregate what to watch and what not to. And following this even for the ones around us for their welfare.

Jesus said "The light of the body is the eye", therefore it is very important to take in light not darkness. On the other hand there are many things that come to us as light but hidden below is deceit, so we have to be on guard at all times. When we look at something very alluring on the outside, may we take time before we touch, drink, eat or enter in to ask "Is this any good for my soul and spirit? Will it take me closer to heaven or to hell?"

The choice will then be ours; our decision will affect our future.

So let us thank Lord for teaching us that we have to guard our eyes at all times. And to shut them from all evil and satanic temptaitons which might be detrimental for us. May your spirit be always there to guide us and caution us in times of distress and dangers.